China's central government has launched a new stimulus plan totaling 130 billion yuan (19 billion U.S. dollars) to boost its economy, an official of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said on Tuesday.
The fund is the second batch of investment from the central budget following a 100 billion yuan allocated in the fourth quarter of 2008. Both were included in the country's 4 trillion yuan economic stimulus package announced in November.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Tuesday the 130 billion yuan had been put in place in terms of real funds and on what projects the money will be spent during an interview with the London-based Financial Times.
China's economic growth slowed to 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008, dragging down the annual rate to a seven-year low of 9 percent, as the global financial crisis takes a toll on the national economy.
The government is hoping to bolster the slowing economy with huge investment from central government, followed by more from local governments and non-governmental sectors.
The NDRC official, who spoke to Xinhua Tuesday morning on condition of anonymity, confirmed the latest 130 billion yuan investment, but declined to unveil detailed plans of the investment before the commission's official announcement.
However, Tuesday morning's 21st Century Business Herald rolled out specific plans with 28 billion yuan to provide housing for low-income earners and 31.5 billion yuan for public facilities, such as electricity, water and road construction in rural areas, citing an unidentified source.
The paper also said 17 billion yuan would go to health and education sectors, 11 billion to environmental protection projects, 15 billion to economic restructuring, and the remaining 27.5 billion yuan to unspecified big infrastructure projects.
Of the earlier 100 billion yuan, 10 billion yuan will be spent on housing projects for low-income families, 34 billion on rural infrastructure projects, 25 billion on large infrastructure projects such as railways, roads and airports, 13 billion on grassroots health, education and cultural projects, 12 billion on energy conservation and environment protection projects, and the remaining 6 billion on innovation and industrial restructuring, according to the NDRC.
The commission, or the country's economic planner, said in November that 1.18 trillion yuan would be arranged for investment from the central budget by the end of 2010, which it said would mobilize a total of 4 trillion yuan in investment across the country within two years.
(Xinhua News Agency February 3, 2009)