Boost real buying power

Some local governments introduced consumer vouchers with much fanfare to help the poor celebrate the Spring Festival.

As a one-off aid package, such consumer voucher programs were a laudable attempt to enable the needy to better share the sunshine of public finance.

However, if policymakers want to make them an important part of boosting consumption growth, they should rapidly come up with an institutionalized solution to raise consumers' real purchasing power. Otherwise, the current jump of consumer spending will prove short-lived.