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Full Text: Report on China's central, local budgets
Posted: March-15-2009Adjust font size:

6) Expenditures on culture reached 25.281 billion yuan, up 20% and equivalent to 99.9% of the target. Admission to 1,007 museums and memorial halls across the country was offered free of charge to the public. We supported the project to build a national shared database for cultural information and resources; this has proceeded ahead of schedule and now covers all counties in some provinces and municipalities directly under the central government. Grant of subsidies to enable villages to show movies has been extended to all incorporated villages in the central and western regions. We supported 46,434 incorporated villages in the central and western regions in purchasing suitable books and rewarded those provinces and municipalities directly under the central government in the eastern region that did well in setting up rural reading rooms.

7) Spending on science and technology reached 116.329 billion yuan, up 16.4% and equivalent to 102.6% of the target. This included 90.391 billion yuan applied to step up basic and applied research and 6 billion yuan to launch and carry out all the 16 key state science and technology projects. Funds were used to enable key state laboratories to allow outside personnel to use their facilities and design, manufacture and upgrade their instruments and equipment, and undertake independent innovation and research. Funds were also used to develop a system of industrial technologies for modern agriculture involving 50 major farm products.

8) Spending on environmental protection totaled 104.03 billion yuan, up 33% and equivalent to 101.2% of the target. Included in this total is 42.3 billion yuan used to promote development of the ten major energy conservation projects and the circular economy, control water pollution in key river valleys, and improve urban water supply and wastewater pipe networks in the central and western regions, and 49.96 billion yuan used to support the project to protect natural forests and implement policies for returning farmland to forests and returning grazing land to natural grasslands. Funds were used to finance the trial of a compensation and credit trading system for the right to release pollutants in the Tai Lake basin and the Binhai New Area of Tianjin. Funds were also spent to promote comprehensive utilization of resources and develop new and renewable energy sources.

9) Spending on industry, commerce and banking totaled 387.135 billion yuan, an increase of 59.4% and equivalent to 114.8% of the target. This figure includes 86.7 billion yuan in direct subsidies to grain farmers and general subsidies for purchasing agricultural supplies, representing an increase of 103%, which benefited 728 million farmers. Another 46.169 billion yuan was used to raise the minimum grain purchase prices three times by a significant accumulative of more than 20%, implement a short-term policy for purchasing and storing major agricultural products, and maintain grain and edible oil reserves. A total of 36.538 billion yuan in subsidies was granted to the fishery industry and four other major industries seriously affected by adjustments in prices of refined petroleum products. Another 2 billion was used to extend to 12 provincial-level administrative areas the program to grant subsidies to enable rural residents to buy home appliances. A total of 89.5 billion yuan was used to support reform of the banking system. Finally, 36.969 billion yuan was spent to promote industrial upgrading and restructuring and accelerate industrial application of new and high technologies.

10) Spending on public security came to 87.577 billion yuan, up9.3% and equivalent to 102.1% of the target. We intensified our efforts to ensure adequate funding for procuratorial, judicial and public security organs, with the focus on guaranteeing sufficient operating expenses to carry out their major duties and improve their infrastructure. We made funds available for reforming the method for collecting court fees for bringing suits. We supported key areas of the country in responding to emergencies.

11) Expenses for national defense totaled 409.943 billion yuan, up 17.7% and equivalent to 100% of the target.

12) Expenditures for transportation amounted to 129.077 billion yuan, an increase of 3.4% (or 22.6% if not including the one-time expenditures in 2007 for railway construction financed with the proceeds from the sale of state assets held by railway enterprises) and equivalent to 122.4% of the target. The large amount over the target was mainly due to increase in expenditures from vehicle purchase tax receipts and in expenditures for developing highways, railways, and other transport facilities during implementation of the budget. Included in this total is 49.5 billion yuan used to strengthen transportation infrastructure such as expressway networks, railways, inland channels, and airports, and 49.2 billion yuan spent to increase support for construction of rural roads, resulting in 391,000 kilometers of newly built or upgraded roads.

13) Expenditures for providing general public services totaled 252.299 billion yuan, up 8.7% and equivalent to 95% of the target. This consists of 1) 127.233 billion yuan for basic public administration and services, such as operation of government offices, down 4.3% and equivalent to 89.6% of the target (expenditures were under the budgeted amount for this item mainly because the budget compiled early last year included transfer payments to administrations of industry and commerce in compensation for the fees they used to collect from sole proprietors and fair trade markets, but during actual implementation this item was incorporated into fiscal transfer payments, and regular budgeted expenditures of state organs were reduced to make more funds available to fight the earthquake and provide disaster relief); and 2) 125.066 billion yuan was used to pay interest on national debt, an increase of 26.2% and equivalent to 101.2% of the target.

Total spending by the central government on the above items in areas such as education, medical and health care, the social safety net, employment, low-income housing and culture that directly affect the people's lives came to 560.364 billion yuan, an increase of 29.2%. Central government expenditures for agriculture, rural areas and farmers totaled 595.55 billion yuan, an increase of 163.7 billion yuan or 37.9%. This figure includes 226.01 billion yuan for agricultural production; 103.04 billion yuan, an increase of 100%, for direct subsidies to grain producers, general subsidies for purchasing agricultural supplies, subsidies for planting superior crop varieties and subsidies for purchasing agricultural machinery and tools; 207.28 billion yuan for social programs such as education, medical and health care, the social safety net, employment, low-income housing and culture in rural areas; and 57.62 billion yuan for expenses and interests related to stockpiles of major agricultural products. The central government's tax rebates and fiscal transfer payments to local governments totaled 1.255932 trillion yuan, the bulk of which went to the people's wellbeing, agriculture, rural areas, and farmers.

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Source: Xinhua News AgencyEditor: Lydia
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