China will begin a trial budget, which separately tracks the
earnings of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), under the supervision
of central government within this year, the State Council decided
at a meeting on Wednesday chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao.
With the budget, the state would obtain the earnings from
state-owned assets as the owner of enterprises, and spend the money
according to the budget plan.
The earnings included in the budget would be channeled to
support the government's planning for industrial development,
restructuring the national economy, technological renovations of
companies, compensating SOEs with structural reform expenses, and
supplementing the social security fund, said the premier.
Wen said the special budget system was an important step in the
income distribution reform of state-owned enterprises, and would
help companies improve technologies and competitiveness, adding the
government's macro-economic control would be strengthened as
well.
The earnings of the SOEs would satisfy the needs of enterprises
for their development, and only a proportion of total earnings
would go into the budget.
The budget of SOE earnings would be planned independently from
the government's main public spending budget, and carried out at
the local level according to the plans of local governments.
(Xinhua News Agency May 31, 2007)