More capital from various sectors of society is expected to flow
into China's rural areas in the future to meet the demand for rural
development, said a Chinese expert.
Thursday's Economic Daily, quoting Han Jun, an expert
of rural research with the Development Research Center under the
State Council, said the Chinese government is exploring ways to
fund the gigantic strategy of building new socialist countryside,
and more capital from various sectors of society will be encouraged
to flow into the rural areas.
Han urged the government to speed up reforming the rural
financial system so as to create a favorable environment for
capital from various sectors of society to be used in agriculture
and rural areas.
The government should establish a mid-and long-term supporting
mechanism to attract capital from various sectors of society to be
used for rural development by issuing some favorable financial
policies, said Han.
In addition, Han agreed with the government's decision to ensure
profits from farmland acquisition will be used for rural
development.
According to Han, the Chinese government has decided that all
additional governmental financial support to education, health
care, culture and basic infrastructure this year will be mainly
directed to rural areas.
Han urged specific policies on land acquisition should be made
as early as possible. In addition, he suggested more
non-agriculture land in the rural areas should be allocated to
rural collective communities to ensure rural residents gain
directly from their land resources.
Currently, governmental financial support is the major capital
source for China's rural development. China set a budget plan of
103 billion yuan (US$12.875 billion) this year for the rural tax
reform, in which about 78 billion yuan are sponsored by the central
government.
But Han said though Chinese government is increasing input to
the rural areas year by year, the country's average financial
support from the government is still at a low level.
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(Xinhua News Agency March 27, 2006)