Wuhan's First Consumer Coupons Issued 'Sold Out'... Total of 2.3 Billion Yuan Distributed

[Asia Economy Beijing=Special Correspondent Sunmi Park] "Did you receive the consumption coupons?" This phrase newly emerged as a greeting among Wuhan citizens on the 19th, when Wuhan City in Hubei Province, which suffered the most from COVID-19 in China, began issuing 'consumption coupons' to stimulate spending. Starting on the 19th, Wuhan City is launching an economic boost campaign using consumption coupons funded by 500 million yuan (approximately 86 billion KRW) of government money.

According to local media such as Wuhan Wanbao on the 20th, the city government released the first batch of consumption coupons usable in daily life through mobile applications including Alibaba's Alipay, Tencent's WeChat Pay, Meituan, and Dazhong Dianping at noon the previous day. The consumption coupons sold out instantly as soon as they were released at 12 PM. The coupons downloaded online can be used from that day at supermarkets, shopping malls, restaurants, etc., and are valid for one week.

Consumers can selectively receive various types of consumption coupons. Wuhan City plans to issue a total of 2.3 billion yuan (approximately 395.7 billion KRW) worth of consumption coupons from the 19th of this month until July 31, distributing them sequentially. For now, until May 31, the city has adopted a method of releasing coupons weekly at noon for six weeks. The 500 million yuan is government funding, and the remaining 1.8 billion yuan is supported by the platforms.

Regarding the weekly issuance of consumption coupons, the Wuhan city government explained, "The main role of consumption coupons is to induce short-term consumption, but distributing them weekly has the advantage of sustaining consumption for a longer period." They added, "Also, weekly distribution allows consideration for stores that have not yet reopened and enables adjustment of coupon issuance volume according to the consumption promotion situation." On the possibility of duplicate receipt, they added, "The total amount of coupons downloadable per person from one platform per month is limited to under 100 yuan."

Consumption accounts for about 46% of Wuhan's economic scale of 1.6 trillion yuan. Wuhan City expects that continuous issuance of consumption coupons during the post-COVID-19 containment and economic normalization phase will help promote consumption and other economic activities.

According to the Global Times, since April 13, 18 provinces and 40 cities including Wuhan have been using the consumption coupon system, and evaluations have been generally positive. However, in Wuhan's case, with a population reaching 11 million and a longer period of halted economic activity compared to other regions, there are opinions that the scale of consumption coupons should be increased further.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.