Full text: Report on China's central, local budgets (4)

Pursuing innovation-driven development

We deepened reform of the management of science and technology initiatives financed by the central government. By completing the optimization or integration of a majority of these initiatives, we were able to concentrate resources on major programs that embody national strategic intentions. We redoubled efforts to support science and technology activities for the public interest, particularly those involving basic research. We supported the implementation of major science and technology projects. We worked to ensure research institutions had the support they needed as they conducted research into their own choice of subjects, and improved the conditions for undertaking research. We launched trials of the insurance compensation mechanism for newly-developed major technological equipment.

Helping provide better social security and employment services

Basic pension benefits for enterprise retirees were increased to an average of 2,270 yuan per person per month. The minimum social pension benefits for participants of the basic old-age insurance for rural and non-working urban residents were raised from 55 yuan to 70 yuan per person per month. We moved forward with reform of the pension system for employees of Party and government offices and public institutions, establishing an annuity scheme for these employees while at the same time adjusting their basic salaries. We intensified efforts to implement the employment assistance initiative for university graduates as well as the scheme for guiding university students in starting their own business, and we also worked to strengthen the capacity of the government for providing public employment services. We gave stronger support to assistance efforts for subsistence allowance recipients, orphans, people with disabilities, and other disadvantaged groups. We further increased subsidies and living allowances to entitled groups, and worked to ensure the proper delivery of pension and other benefits to retired military personnel who now receive their benefits from the government.

Deepening reform of the healthcare system

Government subsidies towards the new rural cooperative medical scheme and the basic medical insurance for non-working urban residents were increased to 380 yuan per person per year with a corresponding rise in the rates for individual contributions to 120 yuan per person per year. We raised per capita government spending on basic public health services from 35 yuan to 40 yuan per year, with the entirety of the additional funds in rural areas being used to purchase basic public health services from doctors. We carried out comprehensive reform of county-level public hospitals in all counties and county-level cities and expanded trials of the comprehensive reform of urban public hospitals to 100 cities. We continued to support community-level healthcare facilities as well as village clinics in implementing the system of essential medicines. We promoted standardized training programs for resident physicians. We also improved medical assistance programs and the system for providing assistance for emergency medical treatment in both urban and rural areas.

Promoting sustainable development of agriculture

We expanded trials for restoring and improving cultivated land contaminated by heavy metals and for comprehensively dealing with the over-abstraction of groundwater. We conducted in selected areas trial reforms of direct subsidies to grain growers, subsidies for purchasing superior crop varieties, and general subsidies for purchasing agricultural supplies with the aim of protecting the soil fertility of cultivated land and supporting appropriately scaled-up grain operations. We promoted the development of water conservation and supply projects, large-scale, high-efficiency, water-saving regional irrigation projects, and high-grade farmland. We made further increases to the amount of funding available for poverty alleviation efforts, facilitating the launch of a number of poverty reduction projects that produced outstanding results. We helped strengthen grassland ecological conservation and supported the implementation of a new round of efforts to return 667,000 hectares of marginal cropland back into forest or grassland as well as the expansion of efforts to bring a complete end to the commercial logging of natural forests. We launched key national water and soil conservation projects, bringing soil erosion under control across 6,570 square kilometers of land. We made coordinated progress in the trials related to comprehensive rural reform. We supported the work to determine and open up registration for contracted rural land-use rights.

Conserving energy, reducing emissions, and improving the environment

With a focus on key areas, we increased funding to deliver further results in the prevention and control of air pollution. We moved forward with trials to construct networks of underground utility corridors and build sponge cities, as well as with efforts to prevent and treat heavy metal pollution in 38 key areas. We launched trials to comprehensively improve the conditions around rivers on the geographical scale of each drainage basin. We moved ahead with key forest shelterbelts and other ecological conservation projects. We supported comprehensive environmental improvement efforts in nearly 20,000 villages and channeled greater effort into supporting the operations and management of rural environmental protection infrastructure. We worked to facilitate the development of new energy and renewable energy industries. With our establishment of a well-rounded system of supportive policies, the production and sales of new-energy vehicles last year rose by approximately 400% and 300% respectively. We carried out comprehensive demonstrations of achieving energy conservation and emissions reductions through fiscal policy.

Improving government housing support

We provided housing support through the provision of both physical housing and rent subsidies, and carried out trials of developing and operating public rental housing through PPP models. We supported the renovation of 6.01 million homes in run-down urban areas and 4.32 million dilapidated rural houses.

Giving impetus to cultural prosperity and development

We promoted implementation of national standards for the provision of basic public cultural services, accelerated the development of a modern system of public cultural services, and supported the construction of multipurpose centers for providing cultural services in communities. We worked to strengthen the protection of cultural heritage sites and traditional Chinese villages. We promoted the development of leading cultural enterprises and creative and cultural industries. We worked to strengthen the international communication capacity of key news media outlets and enhance the country's soft power.

For a detailed account of the budget execution related to the above items, please refer to the 2015 Nationwide Budget Execution Report and draft 2016 Nationwide Budget of the People's Republic of China.

Over the course of 2015, despite mounting downward pressure on the economy, subdued government revenue growth, and increased difficulty in maintaining a balanced government budget, our fiscal operations remained basically stable and we were able to effectively implement all fiscal and tax policies, providing strong support for accomplishing the major targets for economic and social development of the year as well as realizing a successful conclusion to the 12th Five-Year Plan. (mo