Chinese consumer stocks should do “really well” in 2018, Jonathan Fenby, China chairman at TS Lombard, told CNBC on Tuesday.

Fenby reasoned that this was due to the Chinese government’s policies.

“If you believe in the politics, and I think we do now with Xi Jinping, it’s going to be the fallout from the attempt to make China a fairer place, to spread the benefits of growth more widely (that will impact stocks),” he said.

This includes initiatives on behalf of the Communist Party to improve health, education and pension services.

The consumer staples sector of the Shanghai and Shenzhen-based CSI 300 index is up over 83 percent in comparison with 1 year ago, according to Reuters data. This includes stocks such as beverage company Kweichow Moutai and supermarket chain Yonghui Superstores.

Consumer staples steamed ahead of the technology and telecommunications sectors for example, which were up 23.2 percent and 24.0 percent respectively over the past 12 months.

The CSI 300 overall ended last year 21.8 percent higher, according to Reuters.

Improving the lives of the 1.4 billion Chinese population took precedent in President Xi Jinping’s recent New Year’s Eve speech.

“The well-being of our people is the Party and the government’s greatest political achievement. Our cadres should put the people’s state of living at the heart, and help them live a better life,” Xi said, as reported by state-run news agency Xinhua.

Fenby did concede that optimism over Chinese consumer stocks had been going on “for a long time,” adding the caveat that Chinese consumers are keen savers and therefore spend less generally. But he added that if health, education and pension services were improved by the government, “that could have an effect on freeing up savings and helping consumption.”