Full text: Report on China's central, local budgets(4)

2) Main expenditure items

In line with the requirements of ensuring steady economic growth, adjusting the economic structure, promoting reform, and improving quality of life, and based on the need for economic and social development, we adjusted the structure of expenditures during budget implementation and focused on increasing investment in areas related to improving quality of life, such as government-subsidized housing, agriculture, water conservancy, energy conservation, and environmental protection, all of which was achieved without exceeding the budget for central government expenditure (including central government spending and transfer payments to local governments).

Education spending reached 378.152 billion yuan, 100% of the budgeted figure and an increase of 15.7%. We provided funds to support the development of preschool education to ease the shortage of preschools. We refined the mechanism to ensure funding for rural compulsory education, helped to repair and upgrade more primary and secondary rural school buildings, and significantly raised subsidies to the central and western regions. We supported the implementation of a plan to improve the nutrition of over 30 million rural students in compulsory education. A total of 34.45 million urban compulsory education students were exempted from tuition and miscellaneous fees and compulsory education was provided to 12.6 million children of rural migrant workers living together in cities. Rural students, including those from counties and towns, and urban students who are studying agriculture-related majors or from poor families were exempted from secondary vocational school tuition fees. We improved the policy system for providing government financial aid to students from poor families, benefiting approximately 15.96 million students, and advanced Project 985 and Project 211, thereby improving college and university infrastructure and comprehensively raising the quality of higher education.

Combining all budgetary expenditures on education from central and local public finances and government-managed funds, total government education spending reached 2.1994 trillion yuan in 2012, or 4% of GDP.

Spending on science and technology came to 229.15 billion yuan, 100.3% of the budgeted figure and a 12.7% increase. Major state science and technology programs were effectively implemented, and we increased investment in the State Natural Sciences Fund and Program 973, thereby securing substantially more funding for key state laboratories and basic research institutes. Significant progress was made in promoting research on cutting-edge technologies and major generic key technologies, as well as research for public benefit. We vigorously supported construction of scientific and technological infrastructure, and promoted open sharing and highly efficient use of scientific and technological resources. We also funded the implementation of scientific and technological projects that benefit the people and encouraged the application of scientific and technological advances.

Expenditure on culture, sports, and media totaled 49.468 billion yuan, 100.2% of the budgeted figure and an increase of 18.9%. Funds were used to grant free admission to public cultural facilities, including 1,804 museums and memorial halls and over 40,000 galleries and libraries, and to make progress in the national cultural information resource sharing project, the rural library project, and other key cultural projects that benefit the people. Funding was provided to intensify protection of key national cultural artifacts, major cultural and historical sites, cultural resources that relate to the early history of the CPC, and intangible cultural heritage. The international broadcasting capabilities of key media were improved, and we supported efforts to take Chinese culture to a global audience and promoted the rapid development of the culture industry.

Spending on medical and health care amounted to 204.82 billion yuan, 100.6% of the budgeted figure and a 17.2% increase. We raised subsidies to the new rural cooperative medical care system and basic medical insurance for non-working urban residents from 200 yuan to 240 yuan per person per year and further raised the proportion of medical expenses that are reimbursable. We put in place a permanent mechanism for compensating community-level medical and health care institutions that implement the basic drug system, and introduced it in all village clinics. We supported trial reforms of public hospitals in 17 cities and 311 counties or county-level cities. We continued to implement basic and major public health service projects and increased medical assistance, thereby enabling more people to benefit to a greater extent.

Spending on social security and employment amounted to 575.373 billion yuan, 100.1% of the budgeted figure and an increase of 22%. We achieved full coverage of the new old-age pension system for the rural population and the old-age pension system for non-working urban residents. We raised basic pensions for enterprise retirees for the eighth consecutive year, with average monthly benefits reaching 1,721 yuan per person. We increased subsistence allowances for urban and rural residents living in areas that receive central government subsidies by an average of 15 yuan and 12 yuan respectively per person per month. We raised subsidies and living allowances for some entitled groups; improved the social assistance system targeted at orphans, people with disabilities, the homeless, and beggars; and increased efforts to help people affected by natural disasters to restore their lives. We improved policies and measures aimed at boosting employment and supported urban residents in finding jobs or starting their own businesses.