China Details Uses of Stimulus Billions
A quarter of China’s 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) economic stimulus package is going to rebuilding from last year’s devastating earthquake in Sichuan, the government said Thursday in an outline of how the program is being carried out.
The report by the National Development & Reform Commission, China’s main planning agency, was the first detailed outline of how China intends to spend the stimulus funds and what it has done so far.
Questions remain, however, over how much of the money is newly allocated and how much predates the package’s launch in late November.
Spending related to rebuilding from the May 12, 2008, earthquake in central China totals 1 trillion yuan ($14.6 billion), the report said.
The 7.9 magnitude quake, which left nearly 90,000 people dead or missing and another 5 million homeless, caused such devastation across the area centered in Sichuan province that it is unclear if the region will ever fully recover. But the authorities have sought to showcase the reconstruction effort.
The NDRC report showed another 1.5 trillion yuan ($22 billion), or 37.5 percent of the package, going to other construction of roads, railways, airports, irrigation and other basic infrastructure across the country.
Such programs are meant to help stimulate demand, improve China’s overall productivity and to help provide jobs for the tens of millions of workers who were laid off from industries hammered by a downturn in demand due to the global economic crisis.
But the report gave no details on exactly how much money has been spent so far or how many jobs may have been created by the accelerated public works programs.
Among the details it did give:
—By the end of April, construction of 214,000 units of new or improved housing was completed, with construction started on another 650,000 units — part of a 400 billion yuan ($58.6 billion) housing construction program.
—As part of a 370 billion yuan ($54.2 billion) program for improvements in rural villages, 14.6 million people got access to safe drinking water and 20,000 kilometers (12,500 miles) of new roads were completed.
—Some 6,500 basic public health services projects were completed, part of a 150 billion yuan ($22 billion) program to improve public health and education.
The central government is providing 29.5 percent of the funding for the overall stimulus program, the agency said, with the remainder coming from local governments and other sources.
Other spending categories include 370 billion yuan ($54.2 billion) in funding for innovation and upgrading industries and 210 billion yuan ($30.7 billion) for improvements in energy efficiency and pollution abatement.
5/21/2009 5:52 AM ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer SHANGHAI