More than 10 days have passed since the Wuhan lockdown ended. Life is slowly returning to normal. But many stores remain closed and those that are reopened see only a few customers.
Now like many other cities in China, Wuhan has also stepped forward to encourage consumer spending, by offering vouchers to locals and non-locals in the city. Starting Sunday, the municipal government is beginning to issue vouchers worth a total of 500 million yuan (about 71 million U.S. dollars), via mobile Apps of Ali-pay, Meituan Dianping and WeChat.
The vouchers will be issued once per week till the end of July on a first come first serve base. Many of the vouchers are to be used in offline stores in various sectors of catering, retail as well as cultural, sports and tourist sites.
A Wuhan couple talk to CGTN about the vouchers. /CGTN
CGTN met a local couple who just came out of a shopping mall. Speaking of the vouchers, the husband said, "People in Wuhan haven't gone shopping in months. Now the vouchers will encourage them to shop."
His pregnant wife said she felt confident that more people will come out to shop. "Today is my first time coming out to visit the mall. I'm still a bit concerned with infection. But I'm sure it will get better because I see Wuhan people are well aware of self-protection in public places," she said.
Among the government vouchers, some 18 million yuan of them are designated for the registered low-income people in the city.
Alibaba, Meituan Dianping and Tencent will also offer their own vouchers worth a total of 1.8 billion yuan.
A shopping center in Wuhan sees few customers even on weekends. /CGTN
Statistics from Alipay show that, in the past month, more than 40 cities across the country have issued vouchers which have already leveraged consumption worth over 10 billion yuan.
Huang Manyu, professor of the economy and trade department of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, said that "after lockdown of more than 70 days, many residents actually still have enthusiasm for consumption. My own estimation is the vouchers might leverage consumption of ten to twenty times their own worth."
While on the supply side, many business owners are struggling to survive after the lockdown. "Small and medium-sized businesses are major forces to provide employment," Huang said. "Local government should primarily help them out, taking measures to reduce or exempt their rent and offer favorable policies for their taxation."