Foshan residents and tourists can get the vouchers on Alibaba's online-payment service Alipay or an official application platform, and enjoy a cash rebate when making payments at offline shops. - Reuters
GUANGZHOU (Xinhua): The southern Chinese city of Foshan has issued e-vouchers to boost consumption, following similar programmes launched by several other Chinese cities to bail out the economy battered by the Covid-19 outbreak.
Starting from April, local residents and tourists can get the vouchers on Alibaba's online-payment service Alipay or an official application platform, and enjoy a cash rebate when making payments at offline shops.
The e-coupons worth 100 million yuan (US$14 million) will be handed out in four rounds. In the first round, 300,000 coupons worth 30 million yuan will be issued and can be spent in brick-and-mortar stores in sectors including catering and tourism across the city.
In early March, Chinese authorities released a guideline aimed at boosting consumption and unleashing the potential of the domestic market to cushion the blow of the ongoing epidemic on economic activities.
A number of Chinese cities have answered the call by rolling out voucher programmes including Ningbo, Hangzhou, Jiaxing, all in Zhejiang Province, and Nanjing in Jiangsu Province. - Xinhua
