China aims to beat economic inequalities
Wen Jiabao, China's premier, laid out his government's agenda for the next year at the start of the annual National People's Congress with a speech stressing action to address economic inequalities, inefficiencies and imbalances.
Mr Wen struck a confident note in an address to the NPC, China's rubber-stamp parliament, touting the government's success in controlling access to land and credit in order to rein in excessive fixed asset investment.
China has set an official target of 8 per cent growth in gross domestic product for 2005 above the 7 per cent target of recent years, but still well below the 9.5 per cent growth officially recorded for 2004.
Beijing is also hoping to bring China's international payments into “basic balance” and to reduce dependence on trade for growth, with officials targeting a 15 per cent increase in total export and import volumes, a dramatic slowing from last year's 36 per cent.
In his address, Mr Wen highlighted the government's determination to focus on the quality of economic growth, an approach summed up as “putting people first and government for the people” to achieve a harmonious society.
China should stress the “five balances” including balancing urban and rural development, human and environmental development and economic and social development while weighing national against local needs in a strategy of “treating the whole country like a single chessboard”, Mr Wen said.
The premier responded to concerns that rural areas are falling behind by saying China's farm tax would be scrapped in 2006, two years earlier than scheduled, and announcing fiscal transfers to grain-producing counties.
Pupils in poor areas would be given free textbooks and exempted from school fees from this year, a policy that would be extended to all rural areas by 2007.
However, such measures will not reverse inequality. While 2004 was a good year for farmers, rural disposable incomes grew only 6.8 per cent compared with 7.7 per cent in towns where earnings are already three times higher. While the top economic goals set by Mr Wen include creation of 9m new urban jobs and an urban unemployment rate of less than 4.6 per cent, they offer no new targets for rural residents.
Beijing's aim of achieving “basic balance” in international payments reflects concerns about the impact of capital inflows that sent foreign exchange reserves soaring more than $200bn (�151bn, ￡104bn) last year.
Guo Shuqing, director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, was yesterday quoted as saying Beijing would try to manage the surplus by limiting exports by inefficient or polluting companies and by permitting more capital outflows.
But Mr Guo denied the fall in the US dollar would necessarily prompt a sell-off of dollar-denominated reserve assets. “If we sell US dollars now when it is tumbling, it means we lose money. If we do sell them, we have to buy other currencies such as the euro. But what if the euro drops?” the official China Daily newspaper quoted him as saying.
温家宝：中国将致力建设“和谐社会”
中国国务院总理温家宝在一年一度的全国人民代表大会开幕报告中，阐述了政府未来一年的工作议程，并强调将采取行动解决经济不平等、效率不高和发展不均衡等问题。
温先生在向全国人大这个中国橡皮图章议会致辞时，以充满自信的语调，引述了政府在控制土地使用和信贷上所取得的成功。这些措施旨在抑制过度的固定资产投资。
中国为2005年设定了8%的国内生产总值(GDP)增长率目标，高于近几年7%的目标，但仍远低于2004年官方记录的9.5%实际增长率。
中国政府也希望使中国的国际收支达到“基本平衡”，并减少经济增长对贸易的依赖。官方对进出口总量所设定的增幅为15%，比去年36%的增速放慢了许多。
温先生在发言中指出，政府决心致力于提高经济增长的质量，总结起来就是“以人为本、执政为民”，建设和谐社会。
温先生表示，中国应当强调“五个统筹”，包括统筹城乡发展、统筹人与自然和谐发展、统筹经济社会发展，按照“全国一盘棋”的战略布局，以及处理好全局和局部的关系。
针对有关农村地区发展滞后的担心，温总理回应说，中国将在2006年取消农业税，比计划提前两年。他还宣布要对产粮大县进行财政转移支付。
从今年起，贫困地区的学生将免费获得书本及免交学费。2007年起这项政策将推广到全国所有农村地区。
但这些措施将不会扭转不平等的现象。尽管2004年对农民而言是个好年景，但农村可支配收入仅增长6.8%，城镇则达到7.7%，而城镇的总收入已比农村高三倍。在温先生设定的主要经济目标中，包括城镇新增就业900万人，城镇登记失业率控制在4.6%，但却没有为农村居民设定新的目标。
中国政府将国际收支保持“基本平衡”列为目标，这反映了一种担忧，即资本流入所带来的冲击――去年资本流入已令中国外汇储备大幅增长逾2000亿美元。
