CHINA / Official Publication
Government Work Report (2006)
by Xinhua
Updated: 2006-03-15 11:06
The following is the full text of the Report on the Work of the
Government delivered by Premier Wen Jiabao at the Fourth Session of the
Tenth National People's Congress on March 5, 2006.
Report of the Work of the Government
(Delivered at the Fourth Session of the Tenth National People's Congress
on March 5, 2006)
Wen Jiabao
Premier of the State Council
Fellow Deputies,
On behalf of the State Council, I would like to present to you the
following report on the work of the government for your deliberation and
approval. I also welcome comments and suggestions on my report from the
members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political
Consultative Conference.
I Review of the Work of the Past Year
Major achievements were made in 2005 in the socialist modernization drive.
-- Economic growth was fast yet steady. China's GDP reached 18.23
trillion yuan in 2005, an increase of 9.9 percent over the previous year.
Government revenue exceeded 3 trillion yuan, 523.2 billion more than the
previous year. The consumer price index rose by 1.8 percent. China's
economy was in good shape and characterized by fast growth, improved
economic returns and stable prices.
-- Major steps were taken in reform and opening up. Breakthroughs were
achieved in some key areas. China's import and export volume totaled 1.42
trillion U.S. dollars, an increase of 23.2 percent. Total foreign direct
investment actually used reached 60.3 billion dollars, and the country's
foreign exchange reserves totaled 818.9 billion dollars at the end of
2005.
-- Continued progress was made in social programs. Science and
technology, education, culture, health, sports and other undertakings
developed in an all-round way. The success of the Shenzhou VI manned
space flight shows that China has reached world-class levels in some key
areas of science and technology.
-- People's lives continued to improve. A total of 9.7 million urban
residents entered the workforce for the first time last year. Urban per
capita disposable income rose to 10,493 yuan, an increase of 9.6 percent
after adjusting for inflation, and rural per capita net income grew to
3,255 yuan, an increase of 6.2 percent after adjusting for inflation.
China took another substantial step forward on the road of building a
moderately prosperous society in all respects.
We adopted a scientific outlook on development to guide China's overall
economic and social development last year. We mainly undertook the
following tasks.
1. Solving the major problems affecting economic performance. We
continued to exercise effective macroeconomic regulation in accordance
with the principle of taking different approaches to different situations
and encouraging the growth of some sectors while discouraging the
expansion of others. We used a combination of fiscal, tax, monetary and
land policies to curb overheated growth in fixed asset and real estate
investment and ballooning housing prices. In addition, we increased
investment in weak links such as agriculture, energy, transport, and
social programs to promote balanced development and provide momentum for
future development. We improved economic regulation and reduced the
pressure on tight supplies of coal, electricity, and petroleum and on the
overloaded transportation system, thus ensuring fast yet steady growth of
China's economy.
2. Promoting economic restructuring and change of the pattern of economic
growth. Work related to agriculture, rural areas and farmers was further
intensified. The agricultural tax was rescinded in 28 provinces,
autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central
government, and the livestock tax was rescinded nationwide. We increased
subsidies to grain producers and transfer payments to major
grain-producing counties and financially strapped counties, set floor
prices for the purchase of key grain varieties in some major
grain-producing areas, and increased rural incomes through a variety of
channels. Last year, 297.5 billion yuan from the central government
budget was spent on agriculture, rural areas and farmers, a year-on-year
increase of 34.9 billion yuan. Having risen considerably the previous
year, total grain output rose again by 14.54 million tons to 484.01
million tons. The increased overall agricultural capacity, stable
increase in grain production and steady increase in rural incomes provide
the foundation for ensuring fast yet steady economic development and
social stability.
In industrial restructuring, we formulated and implemented development
programs and industrial policies for energy, important raw material
production, equipment manufacturing and other sectors, and adopted policy
measures to encourage development of the wholesale and retail industry.
We guided and supported major industries to ensure their sound
development and closed down a number of production facilities that had
backward equipment, wasted energy, created serious pollution and were
unsafe.
We paid particular attention to energy and resource conservation and
environmental protection and laid out tasks, policies and measures for
building a resource-conserving society and developing a circular economy
in order to change the pattern of economic growth. We launched 178 major
projects that save energy and water and comprehensively utilize
resources. Management of mineral exploration and exploitation, land use,
and urban and rural planning was enhanced. Last year, 15.2 billion yuan
from the sale of treasury bonds was used to finance key ecological
projects undertaken to prevent and control pollution in the basins of the
Huai River, Tai Lake and other major rivers and lakes, protect virgin
forests, return farmland to forests or grassland, and prevent and control
desertification. We launched special projects to address serious
environmental problems that were endangering people's health.
3. Deepening economic restructuring and opening China further to the
outside world. Trials of comprehensive rural reform were carried forward.
Significant progress was made in introducing a shareholding system in
state-owned commercial banks and in reforming rural credit cooperatives.
Reform of the shareholder structure of listed companies made steady
progress. Reform of the mechanism for setting the Renminbi exchange rate
was implemented smoothly. Introduction of a modern corporate structure in
state-owned enterprises was accelerated. A total of 21.9 billion yuan was
allocated by the central government to subsidize the policy-based closure
and bankruptcy of 116 state-owned enterprises. The work of relieving
enterprises of their obligation to operate social programs continued.
Reform in the areas of public finance, tax, investment and pricing was
deepened. Reform of the postal service system was initiated. Further
progress was made in the reform of the railway and civil aviation
systems. Policy measures were adopted to encourage, support and guide the
growth of the non-public sector of the economy. Breakthroughs were made
in reforms in some major areas.
We actively addressed new issues arising in the course of opening China
to the outside world. The structure of foreign trade was improved by
adjusting policies concerning export rebates, tariffs and processing
trade. The export rebate mechanism was improved. Steady progress was made
in opening the service sector to foreign competition. Overall
arrangements were made for work after the transition period following
China's entry into the WTO.
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