Intro: With the growth of capital investment, improving the management and use of poverty-relief funds is a key step to fight against poverty. Here is an outline of China’s efforts on the use of funds for poverty alleviation, excerpted from Yearbook of China’s Poverty Alleviation and Development, 2019.
In 2018, localities earnestly studied the guiding principles and important instructions gave by the central government leaders on improving the management and use of poverty-relief funds, implemented the decisions and plans made by China’s State Council for enhancing the management of poverty-relief funds, deepened the reform on the mechanism for the management of poverty-relief funds, pushed forward the allocation of poverty-relief funds for agricultural development in poverty-stricken areas, intensified the oversight mechanism for the management of poverty-relief funds, improved the construction of poverty-alleviation projects reserve, implemented the system of making public the use of poverty-relief funds and gave full play to role of poverty-relief funds in fighting against poverty.
Continue to increase capital investment.In 2018, the central and provincial special poverty-alleviation funds totaled RMB 179.6 billion, an increase of RMB 39.7 billion compared with 2017, or up 28.4 percent. Among them: the central government allocated RMB 106.1 billion, a rise of RMB 20 billion, or an increase of 23.2 percent; as for the provincial government, a total of RMB73.5 billion was allocated, an increase of RMB 19.7 billion, up 36.6 percent.
Adhere to the principle of precisely using the poverty-relief funds. Local governments implemented the basic strategy of targeted poverty alleviation, and based on the poverty information recorded in the registrations system, they allocated the funds to registered farmers to ensure the funds could benefit all of the poor.
Firstly, ensure the poverty-relief funds could benefit each village and each rural household in order to make the fund use more targeted.Based on the actual progress in poverty-alleviation work, localities focused on cultivating and developing industries with local characteristics, improving the work and life conditions of small-scale public welfare facilities, enhancing the self-development ability of the poor and their anti-risk capacity, in an attempt to take tailor-made poverty measures for different rural households and use the poverty-relief funds based on local conditions. According to the statistics reported by various provinces at the end of 2018, 58.1 percent of the central government’s special poverty-relief funds were used for registered poor households in various ways of issuing direct subsidies, obtaining investment profits, providing credit support and giving play to the role of leading enterprises and cooperatives in reducing poverty, offering vocational education and training, providing collateral-free small loans to support the development of poverty-relief industries, and upgrading the poverty-reduction capacity of the poor. About 34.2 percent of the poverty-relief funds were used for water conservancy projects on farmlands, village roads, drinking water for people and livestock, and energy-related projects like biogas projects and rebuilding dilapidated houses in poverty-stricken villages. About 7.7 percent of the poverty-relief funds were used for compensating the risks in the financial poverty alleviation and covering the cost of insurance as well as the expense for daily management of the poverty information registration database.
Secondly, promote key poverty-alleviation work.According to incomplete statistics reported by various provinces, around 46.6 percent of the central government’s poverty-relief funds were used for improving the overall conditions of the poverty-stricken villages, such as supporting the infrastructure construction, propelling the development of poverty-reduction industries, and improving farmers' living environment, About 13 percent went to make up the discount interest rates in the process of relocating the poor from inhospitable areas and the development of follow-up industries. About 2.1 percent was channeled into vocational education and training projects, mainly focusing on providing training for those who failed to be enrolled in high schools or universities in poor families, labor transfer training and training entrepreneurship-based poverty relief leaders in poor villages. About 5.3 percent allocated for interest-discount small-sum loans and the risk compensation. About 18.7 percent of the poverty-relief funds were used for poverty alleviation through asset investments and about 14.3 percent were invested in poverty-alleviation industries like e-commerce business, tourism industry and building PV power stations.
Thirdly, support the development of poverty-relief industries and the improvement of basic work and living conditions.Localities intensified their support for developing featured industries. Aboui48.6 percent of the central government's poverty-relief funds were directly used for industrial development; about 30.3% were used for water conservancy projects on farmlands, village roads drinking water for people and livestock, and energy-related projects like biogas projects and rebuilding dilapidated houses in poverty-stricken villages; about 21.1 percent were used for compensating the risks in the financial poverty alleviation, insurance and enhancing the poor people's capacity to end poverty.
Resource：
[1] Yearbook of China’s poverty alleviation and development, 2020.
