China's Premier Li Qiang delivered the 2026 Government Work Report on March 5, with most economic goals for 2026 largely consistent with 2025, including the scale of special treasury bonds for infrastructure and consumer subsidies as well as unemployment and inflation targets, though the GDP growth goal dropped to 4.5%-5.0%. The 15th Five-Year Plan for 2025-2030, released the same day, focused on incorporating artificial intelligence into business, industry and consumer products, and it outlined a gradual shift from taxing factories to taxing consumers at point of sale.

Since China emerged from its COVID-19 lockdowns in January 2023, the government has tried and largely failed to revive pre-pandemic consumption levels and to put a floor beneath the free-fall of the real estate sector.