China consumption rise tipped

China could see household consumption rise from the current level of 35 percent of GDP to between 45 and 50 percent by 2020, according to Mitch Barns, chief executive officer of Nielsen Holdings, a leading global information and measurement company.

"The upper end of this range amounts to additional spending of approximately 26.9 trillion yuan ($4.33 trillion) over 2012 levels - more than 18,500 yuan of additional consumption per capita. This takes consumption per capita to well over twice 2012 levels," Barns said at a panel discussion at the Boao Forum for Asia in Hainan province last Thursday.

Nielsen information, along with that of the World Bank, puts Chinese household consumption today at about 35 percent of GDP, compared with the global average of 60 percent.

The household savings rate as a percentage of disposable income has almost doubled in China from about 16 percent in 1990 to more than 30 percent today.