A think tank report forecast an annual growth rate of up to 15 percent over the coming three years for China's sharing economy. The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak will affect the sharing economy's development this year, weighing on sectors like home-sharing, transportation and housekeeping services but creating new opportunities in the fields of education, medical care and goods delivery services, the report stated.
The report, released by the State Information Center, expected the sharing economy to expand by 10 to 15 percent annually between 2020 and 2022 and become increasingly competitive.
The COVID-19 outbreak will only have a temporary impact on the sharing economy, which will revive quickly after the outbreak, according to the report.
It predicted the sharing economy may expand between 8 and 10 percent this year from one year earlier, but the growth will rebound significantly in 2021 and 2022.
Statistics from the report showed the sharing economy registered a total transaction volume of 3.28 trillion yuan (473.71 billion U.S. dollars) in 2019, up 11.6 percent year on year.
Some 800 million people in the country were involved in the sharing economy sectors last year, with the number of service providers reaching 78 million, 4 percent more than the previous year. Sharing economy platforms have created 6.23 million jobs in the country, up 4.2 percent on a year-on-year basis.
The sharing economy is an economic model defined as a peer-to-peer (P2P) based activity of acquiring, providing, or sharing access to goods and services that is often facilitated by a community-based on-line platform (according to Investopedia).
