Full text: Report on China's central, local budgets (7)

Fighting poverty

In 2016, the central government will increase all expenditures relating to poverty alleviation efforts; this includes the appropriation of an additional 20.1 billion yuan of funds earmarked specifically for poverty reduction, which is an increase of 43.4% over last year. We will further expand the pilot scheme for helping those living in poverty realize returns on their asset investments, work hard to relocate those living in inhospitable areas, support poor counties in integrating the use of government funds for rural development, and concentrate our efforts on tackling severe poverty. We will continue to provide assistance to ethnic minorities living in poverty and to poor state-owned agricultural farms and forestry farms, and we will also provide poverty-relief employment programs. We will put into effect programs to use public welfare funds financed by lottery proceeds in support of old revolutionary base areas facing poverty. While delegating powers for the review and approval of programs supported by poverty-relief funds, we will strengthen supervision over such funds to ensure their secure and effective use. With targeted measures for reducing poverty, we will work to help poor areas tap into their potential for development and make their development sustainable so that both poor areas and poverty groups can lift themselves out of poverty at an even faster pace.

Agriculture

We will make adjustments to the structure of agricultural expenditures, increasing support to efforts to promote sustainable agricultural development. We will work to discourage the excessive use of insecticides and fertilizers and explore conducting trials on the implementation of systems of crop rotation and fallow land. We will introduce policies to promote adjustments to the agricultural production mix and support comprehensive price reform of water used for agricultural purposes. We will continue to move ahead with trials for restoring and improving cultivated land contaminated by heavy metals as well as trials for comprehensively dealing with the over-abstraction of groundwater.

We will support the implementation of a food crop production strategy based on farmland management and the application of technology in order to ensure the effective supply of agricultural products as well as grain security. We will make a large-scale push to develop farmland irrigation systems and high-quality farmland in order to help increase overall grain production capacity. We will carry out nationwide reform of direct subsidies to grain growers, subsidies for purchasing superior crop varieties, and general subsidies for the purchase of agricultural supplies. We will support the development of diverse forms of appropriately scaled-up agricultural operations and work to promote integrated development of the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries in rural areas. We will improve mechanisms for subsidizing major grain growing areas and increase rewards given to major grain-producing and edible oil-producing counties. We will support the reform and development of state forestry farms, state forestry areas, rural supply and marketing cooperatives, and state farms built on reclaimed land. We will promote the orderly and effective operation of the China Overseas Agricultural Investment and Development Fund and work to see China's agriculture go global.

We will provide support for the reform of logistics systems for grain and other agricultural products. We will deepen the pilot reform for ensuring guaranteed base prices for cotton and soybeans. We will promote reform of the system for purchasing and stockpiling corn. We will also improve mechanisms for stockpiling and regulating the supply of major agricultural products. Although the above reform measures will increase government expenditures for a time, this is a necessary cost of reform. Following the establishment of a market-based price formation mechanism for grain, cotton, and edible oils, we will work towards gradually reducing stockpiles of these products to appropriate levels so that the fiscal burden from stockpiling expenses can see a corresponding return to normal levels.

Ecological conservation and environmental protection

We will go further in supporting efforts to control air pollution. We will promote the implementation of the action plan for water pollution prevention and control. We will carry out trials for the restoration and improvement of mountain, water, forest, and farmland ecosystems. We will implement a new round of policies for providing subsidies and awards to efforts to return marginal farmland back into forest or grassland and to preserve the ecology of grasslands. We will put in place nationwide coverage of protective policies for all natural forests, and appropriately increase subsidies for natural forest protection projects as well as the levels of compensation for forest management and conservation efforts that produce a positive ecological impact. We will strengthen wetlands protection efforts and expand the scope of work to return cultivated land back into wetlands. We will increase efforts to promote the use of new-energy vehicles and accelerate the construction of battery-charging facilities. We will work to ensure the cleaner use of resources by promoting more efficient, centralized coal operations and utilizing pollutant-capturing equipment while restricting less efficient, dispersed coal operations. We will improve the mechanism for subsidizing the use of renewable energy for electricity generation and work to see that electricity generated from renewable energy can come on the grid at a price comparable to that of conventional electricity generation methods as soon as possible. We will expand the comprehensive demonstrations of achieving energy conservation and emissions reductions through fiscal policy as well as the scope of trials for having provinces situated on the upper and lower reaches of river basins compensate each other for their impact on water quality. We will promote reform of environmental monitoring systems so as to step up the pace of establishing a monitoring system in which the central and local governments assume separate responsibilities.

Government-subsidized housing projects

We will continue to carry out the trials of developing and operating public rental housing through PPP models. We will put in place preferential tax and fee policies and loan interest subsidy policies for projects to renovate run-down urban areas, promote efforts to grant direct monetary housing subsidies to people displaced by the redevelopment of such areas, and actively encourage government procurement of renovation services. This year we plan to start renovating 6 million housing units in run-down urban areas and 3.14 million dilapidated houses in rural areas.

Culture and sports

We will work hard to ensure that access to basic public cultural services becomes increasingly standardized and equitable, and that both quality and efficiency are increased in the provision of public cultural services. We will support efforts to help socialist art and literature thrive while promoting cultural exchanges and communication. We will improve the systems for providing policy support to cultural industries. We will continue to promote public fitness programs and support the reform and development of soccer in China. We will work to ensure adequate funding for China's preparation for and participation in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

National defense and armed forces development

We will support efforts to deepen the reform of national defense and the armed forces and strengthen the military in all respects so that it is more revolutionary, modern, and standardized. We will promote integrated development of the economy and national defense. We will work hard to ensure that the capabilities of the armed forces are constantly improving, and that they are able to safeguard the sovereignty, security, and development interests of China. (mo