The Ministry of Finance?holds a press conference on the sidelines of the fourth session of the 11th National People's Congress?(NPC) on March 7, 2011.

China's national fiscal expenditure in 2011 will reach more than 10 trillion yuan, which is up by 12 percent compared with the previous year, according to the country's budget report for 2011. This will be the first time China's annual fiscal expenditure has exceeded 10 trillion yuan.

According to the report, the central government will spend more than 1 trillion yuan on areas directly related to people's livelihoods, such as education, medical and health care, social security and employment, housing support and culture, representing an increase of more than 18 percent over last year.

Around 988 billion yuan will go to projects for agriculture, rural areas and farmers, representing an annual increase of more than 15 percent.

The central government will also allocate more than 3.7 trillion yuan for tax rebates and fund transfers to local governments, an increase of more than 15 percent.

Other expenditure closely related to people's livelihood include investment on rural irrigation and water conservancy, transportation and environmental protection.

In total, nearly two-thirds of the central government's fiscal budget will be used to improve people's living conditions.

Meanwhile, the government will try to reduce administrative costs by implementing financial and economic discipline to practice austerity among government agencies.