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China's proactive fiscal policy played important role in
safeguarding the national economy in 2003,Finance Minister Jin
Renqing said Saturday at the annual session of the national
legislature.
Last year, the Chinese government continued to promote sustained
and rapid economic growth and issued treasury bonds totaling 140
billion yuan to finance projects, the minister said in a report on
the implementation of the central and local budgets for 2003 and on
the draft central and local budgets for 2004.
While exercising strict management over these funds, the
government improved the orientation and structure of use of these
bonds by giving preference to rural areas, economic restructuring,
the central and western regions, science and technology, education,
improvement of the ecological environment and public health
services, said Jin.
Transfer payments were increased to promote balanced development
among different regions. General transfer payments from the central
budget to local governments in 2003 totaled 191.2billion yuan, 17.9
percent more than the previous year.
Special transfer payments earmarked for social security,
agriculture, science and technology, education, health and poverty
alleviation amounted to 257.7 billion yuan, up 7.3 percent
year-on-year.
In 2003, 2 billion yuan was appropriated from the central budget
to set up the Anti-SARS Fund, and a policy was clearly stipulated
to provide free SARS treatment for rural and impoverished urban
patients.
Financial authorities at all levels allocated a total of 13.6
billion yuan for SARS prevention and treatment, including 2.8
billion yuan from the central budget. The central government
appropriated an additional 1 billion yuan to improve the public
health system in the second half of the year.
In addition, the minister said, the government introduced a
range of preferential fiscal and tax policies to aid industries
hard hit by the SARS outbreak, such as tourism, food and beverage
service, civil aviation, railways, hotels and taxis, so that they
could tide over difficulties to resume normal operations as soon as
possible.
(Xinhua News Agency March 6, 2004)
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