this session of the national people’s Congress began with a minute of silence in memory of who died from the epidemic of the coronavirus, after which the delegates began to work. The delegates were in masks, as required by sanitary rules.
the sessions discussed a large number of problems from various industries. However given the epidemic of coronavirus greatest interest for China are poverty reduction and economic development in the short term.
As stated in the report submitted at the current session of the NPC, this year all the poor rural population living below the poverty line, will be completely “put out of distressed condition.” The Central and regional authorities, on the contrary, should be prepared to budget cuts.
“In 2020, China would completely eliminate absolute poverty, 1.4 billion Chinese people together will enter into the society of average prosperity. This means that China maybe a decade earlier to carry out the first item of the sustainable development Goals of the UN for the period until 2030”, says a leading Chinese state newspaper Renmin Ribao.
Over the past 40 years about 700 million Chinese citizens broke up with poverty. This was done thanks to a consistent policy of reforms and openness pursued by the authorities since 1978. Throughout these decades, there were public assistance programs for the poor. So, in the fall of 2013, Chinese President XI Jinping during an inspection tour in Hunan province said about the necessity of providing targeted assistance to the needy. She meant the implementation of specific measures in each case, starting from the identification of the causes of poverty. “China have been lifted out of poverty more than 700 million people in rural areas – a daunting figure,” said Russian Ambassador to China Andrey Denisov.
it Should be noted that China was extending its experience in the fight against poverty and to other countries. As mentioned in the “Report on the progress made by China in implementation of the UN Agenda for sustainable development for the period up to 2030”, published in the fall of 2019, China has participated in approximately one hundred projects for poverty reduction in many developing countries. China shares its experience by organizing various training programmes and forums, and by building in developing countries such as Laos and Cambodia, a special “villages, demonstrating poverty reduction in practice.”
“China was to win over poverty in recent decades – told “RG” the famous orientalist, sinologist Yuri Tavrovsky. With the coming to power of XI Jinping, this struggle began to develop especially quickly, because in terms of the XI “China dream” has laid a plan to defeat poverty by 2021, which marks 100 years since the establishment of the Communist party of China”.
According to Taraskovo, in 2019, it was clear that Beijing will reach this goal in the near future. Of course, the epidemic of coronavirus has somewhat complicated the situation, but was unable to prevent the eradication of poverty. “I am confident that at the end of 2020, Beijing will declare the final victory over poverty, – said Tavrovsky. – This is the first case in the world.” Other States, according to experts, should use the example of China, because of poverty and a life beyond subsistence level are not uncommon even in the most developed countries.
In China, said Tavrovsky, in 1978, 95 percent of the population lived in poverty. To 2012 year, there are 99 million people. In 2020, should not remain a single one.
the Threshold of extreme poverty or poverty in China is determined independently by each province. For example Tavrovsky cited figures for the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous region. Where the entire population by income level is divided into four colors. Green means that the annual family income of more than 5 million yuan ($700), it is considered normal. The following yellow level with an annual family income 4500-5000 yuan (630-700 dollars), which, in principle, acceptable, though not enough. However, the real poverty is the orange and red levels with an annual income of 4000-4500 yuan and 4,000 yuan ($560), respectively.
currently, the expert said, because of the pandemic, about 60-70 million farmers migrant workers lost their jobs. Plus the authorities due to the effects of coronavirus is the problem of employment of University graduates. To help the regions to cope with these problems, the government allocate $ 20 billion to help poor areas, and another 15 billion dollars for the victims of the epidemic COVID-19.
XI Jinping at a joint meeting of members of the national Committee of the people’s political consultative Council of China on 23 may noted that “Chinese farmers have to follow the path of universal well-being” and that we cannot allow someone in this way behind. In his words, to lower the status of agriculture is impossible, and you need to focus all my energy to solve the problems of the industry.
with regard to the further development of the economy after the epidemic of the coronavirus, that for the year 2020 for the first time since 1994, was not established quantitative goals for the growth of the GDP, this in his report to the Prime Minister of China Li Keqiang. It caused severe damage to China’s economy from COVID-19, which led to a reduction in GDP in the first quarter of this year to 6.8 percent. Li Keqiang called this drop “the price that had to pay for the containment of the epidemic”.
Chinese President XI Jinping, speaking on may 23, said that the economic situation in China “must be analyzed from a comprehensive, dialectical and long-term perspective” and to make efforts to “appearance butnew opportunities and achieve new successes”.
Instead of claim numbers, which is necessary to achieve, the Chinese authorities chose to deliver a flexible goal. The main objectives for 2020 declared stable employment, combating poverty, and achieving the goal of a society of average prosperity. However, some quantitative indicators at the NPC session named was still. Among them is the creation of more than 9 million jobs, inflation at 3.5 percent, the unemployment rate should not exceed 6 percent. The budget deficit of the PRC will amount to 1 trillion yuan (on the order of 141.6 billion dollars), which is 3.6 percent of GDP.
the Main task of the government is assistance to the regions in providing employment, maintaining the standard of living of the population and the functioning of the market. This will take place through the mechanism of intergovernmental transfers. Also the regions will be able this year to release a large number of their bonds, totaling to 3.75 trillion yuan (525,9 billion) to attract more funds to sustain the economy of the provinces. About 600 billion yuan (us $ 84.1 billion) will be spent on budget investments.
as for the tax burden, it in 2020 will be reduced by 2.5 trillion yuan (352,6 billion). We are talking about reducing interest rates or temporary removal of VAT and contributions to pension and other funds, the liberation of medium-sized, small and microenterprises from insurance contributions.
XI Jinping in his speech before the delegates on may 21, called to provide stability on six fronts and to provide security in six areas. Six of the fronts is: employment, financial sector, foreign trade, foreign investment, domestic investment and expectations from prospects. Six areas – employment, providing the vital needs of the population, work market actors, food and energy security, stability of supply chains and supply chains, the smooth functioning of authorities at grassroots level.
talking about the fact that the Chinese authorities, providing stability and security in these areas is calculated to ensure the reliability of the General economic situation. “We are maintaining stability, to move forward and thus to lay a solid Foundation for the full building a moderately prosperous society”, said in the report on government work presented at the current session of the NPC. This can be compared with the athlete’s training, which first performs physical exercises to strengthen the whole body, and only later proceeds to more complex tasks.
“the quantitative growth has not been delivered for two reasons, – explained the “RG” Yuri Tavrovsky. – First of all, this fear of the arrival of the second wave of coronavirus, and��, the second – unclear prospects for Chinese exports. Yet it is unclear how large will be the returns, given the unstable economic and epidemiological situation in other countries”.
According to experts, China approached the issue quite rationally. In this case, said Tavrovsky, the decision to abandon the clear digital installations could be given to the leadership of China is not easy because decades of planned economy everyone is used to the reference points in the form of specific numbers.
