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 (12.875
billion U.S. dollars) 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.