Chongqing- Chongqing's economy shows enormous vitality in the first quarter of 2022. During the May Day holiday, Chongqing fully integrates digital RMB into consumption, cultivates new consumption models, and promotes the construction of an international consumption center.

In the first quarter, the city's total retail sales of consumer goods reached 351.98 billion yuan (about 53.25 billion U.S. dollars), up 4.2% year on year, 0.9 percentage points higher than the national level. It has shown a considerable consumption vitality.

"One thousand years ago, the world's earliest paper currency, Jiaozi, was born in Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality during the Northern Song Dynasty. A thousand years later, we are promoting the digital RMB in Chongqing," sail Wang Jue, deputy director of the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce.

According to international conventions, the digital yuan is a tentative acronym for "e-CNY," issued by the People's Bank of China. It is the legal tender of the digital form. It supports the loose coupling function of bank accounts based on a generalized account system and can realize the controllable anonymously.

Citizens pay in digital RMB at Yonghui Superstores. (iChongqing file photo)

Throughout the whole May Day holiday, consumption activities will hit all links, including trade, culture, food, travel, and entertainment. Department stores, automobiles, home appliances, supermarkets, accommodation, catering, tourism, and e-commerce platforms all united to issue digital RMB consumption coupons and red envelopes in digital RMB to stimulate consumption. The digital RMB payment methods will become popular with increasing application scenarios of digital RMB.

In the Jiulongpo District, after buying a car, consumers could receive an electronic fuel card of 500 yuan, issued in digital RMB. The total quantity of the coupon reaches 2 million yuan. In Liangjiang New Area, The Ring will launch its 1st-anniversary activity. From May 1 to May 3, consumers will enjoy a thirty-yuan discount for every thirty-one-yuan digital RMB when purchasing with the China Construction Bank app.

The issuing of coupons is conducive to promoting short-term consumption and restoring consumer confidence and can increase the short-term income of merchants and alleviate their operating pressure via indirect subsidies.

Consumption coupons also have a specific "multiplier effect," with every 1 yuan generating about 2 to 3 times that amount, according to a report by Guotai Junan Securities.

The epidemic situation in Chongqing is stabilizing and improving. Consumption is expected to recover during the May Day holiday.