BEIJING — Consumption is expected to remain the largest contributor to China’s economic growth in 2019, a Ministry of Commerce (MOC) official said.

Wang Bin, deputy director of the Department of Market Operation and Consumption Promotion at the MOC, said at a recent meeting that consumption is expected to contribute to 65 percent of economic growth in 2019, with an expected 9-percent increase in total retail sales of consumer goods.

China’s consumer market will continue its steady development and maintain a stable and positive outlook regardless of the negative factors and pressure, Wang added.

The three-day New Year holiday saw a robust start of China’s consumption market in 2019, with the retail sales of 60 Beijing-based business service companies hitting 3.01 billion yuan (about $438.6 million) during the period, up 6.3 percent year-on-year, official data showed.

Meanwhile, consumption in Shanghai during the three days reached 13.5 billion yuan, up 10.6 percent from the previous year.

To improve the consumption structure and let consumption play a bigger role in accelerating economic development, the country has launched various measures, including increasing the supply of goods and services, reducing tariffs, expanding imports and introducing policy incentives for cross-border e-commerce.

The pro-consumption policies introduced last year have pushed an upgrade in consumption by better matching the high-end demands with high-quality supply, MOC researcher Chen Lifen said.

MOC data showed China’s retail sales of consumer goods reached 34.5 trillion yuan in the first 11 months last year, up 9.1 percent year-on-year, with consumption contributing to 78 percent of the total economic growth.

Moreover, China has announced special individual income tax deductions to lower the tax burden of people with certain expenditures. The move, which went into effect on the first day of this year, is expected to further stimulate consumption.