Chinese consumer confidence index remained unchanged in the first quarter of 2013 from the previous quarter and 15 points higher than the global average, a survey showed Wednesday.
Chinese consumer confidence indexed at 108 in the first quarter, unchanged from the last quarter of 2012, a survey by global information and insights company Nielsen said.
"Compared with the previous quarter, Chinese consumers' attitudes toward their job prospects, personal finances, and spending intentions remained stable and steady, indicating an optimism about the overall Chinese economy," said Yan Xuan, president for Nielsen Greater China.
"Although Chinese consumers' sentiments about their personal finances and job prospects are down compared to the first quarter of last year, it is encouraging to see that consumers' confidence for spending intentions rebounded to 39 percent, the highest level since the third quarter of 2010."
Consumer confidence levels above and below a baseline of 100 indicate degrees of optimism and pessimism.
"The recovery of consumer confidence and spending intentions was because there were more holidays in the first quarter of the year and consumers exhibited more rigid demand," Guan Lixin, an assistant researcher with the Consumption Economics Department under the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation (CAITEC), told the Global Times Wednesday.
"The signal sent by the new leadership for restructuring the economy and raising income raised consumer expectations, and reduced inflationary pressure also boosted consumers' confidence," Guan said.
China is seeking to restructure its economy to focus more on domestic consumption to boost growth after years of rapid gains driven by investment and export.
Contribution of domestic consumption to GDP growth rose to 51.8 percent in 2012 from 37.3 percent in 2010, while contribution of investment to the economy dropped to 50.4 percent in 2012 from 54.8 percent in 2010, official data showed.
Meanwhile, a raft of macroeconomic data released recently showed that China's economy has been recovering slowly, prompting discussions on what will become the engine for China's economic expansion.
Retail sales rose 12.8 percent year-on-year in April, up from the 12.6-percent rise seen in March but slower than the 14.5-percent target the government expects for the full year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed last week.
The economic growth stumbled to 7.7 percent in the first quarter, slower than the 7.9 percent pace during the fourth quarter of 2012, falling short of expectations for a strong rebound.
"The year of 2013 sees more attention diverted to developing urbanization. So the environment for investment growth is better than that for consumption growth. It is hard for consumption to become the first engine for economic growth in the year," Guan from CAITEC said.
"Worse-than-expected macroeconomic data will surely have negative impact on the consumption," Li Youhuan, an economist at the Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.
China is still struggling to find a right model to drive its economic growth in the future, Li said.