China will increase the number of treasury bonds by 3.25 billion
yuan (US$394 million) in a move to boost investment in
infrastructure construction in rural areas over the next six
months.
The new effort, designed to counter the negative impact of SARS,
was revealed at yesterday's executive meeting of the State Council
chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao.
The treasury bonds will be used to bolster funding for construction
of electric power, roads, drinking water projects and rebuilding of
dilapidated school buildings in rural areas, particularly those in
the poorest regions.
The move will have a two-fold positive impact in that the building
programme will provide work and an income for many rural laborers
in addition to vastly improving infrastructure.
The government should concertedly implement various measures to
increase farmers' income, one of top priorities on government's
agenda, the meeting concluded.
These measures include increasing investment in agriculture and
rural areas, and conducting supply and marketing system reform,
financial system reform, "fees-for-tax" reform and medical reform,
as well as establishing a contingency handling mechanism.
Vice-Premier Huang Ju told yesterday's opening ceremony of the
Second Meeting of the Standing Committee of the 10th National
Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
(CPPCC) that China faces a tough task if it is to meet this year's
goal of increasing farmers' income by 5 percent.
The SARS outbreak resulted in 8 million migrant workers returning
to their homes in the countryside during the crisis.
In
the last year, income earned by farmers from working in cities
accounted for about 41.8 percent of the total annual increase in
income, said Huang.
During the second quarter of this year, the per capita cash income
of farmers decreased 35 yuan (US$4.25), 4.5 percent down compared
to the same period last year, according to official statistics.
To
reverse this, experts called for more favorable policies.
The government should consider cutting agricultural taxes in rural
areas that recorded massive numbers of migrant workers returning
from cities for fear of SARS, said Han Jun, a senior expert with
the State Council Development Research Center.
Such taxes should be reduced by a large margin, especially for
regions which have been detrimentally affected by both SARS and
summer floods, such as East China's Anhui Province, he said.
Despite this, Huang said in his speech that he was confident China
will achieve its economic growth target in 2003.
Huang said although SARS has had a certain negative impact on the
development of China's economy, the momentum of China's economic
development remains strong.
(China Daily July 9, 2003)