China News Service, August 26. Xu Hongcai, Vice Minister of Finance, stated at the State Council’s policy briefing on the 26th that as of mid-August, 300 billion yuan used to support tax cuts and fees will be deducted, and 1.7 trillion yuan will be directly managed. Among the yuan funds, the central government has allocated 1.674 trillion yuan, accounting for 98.5% of the total direct funds.
On the 26th, the State Council Information Office held a regular briefing on the State Council’s policies. Vice Minister of Finance Xu Hongcai and others introduced the progress of new fiscal funds directly reaching the grassroots level in cities and counties, and answered reporters’ questions.
At the meeting, a reporter asked: With a direct fund of 2 trillion yuan, what is the actual amount of funds allocated for implementation? In terms of boosting consumption, can the current fiscal policy play a larger role?
Xu Hongcai introduced that from the perspective of the distribution, as of mid-August, the central government has allocated 1.674 trillion yuan, accounting for the total direct funds, of the 1.7 trillion yuan used to support tax cuts and fees. 98.5% of the amount. Judging from the financial situation of cities and counties, of the 1.558 trillion yuan under the provincial finance, the city and county finance has been refined into specific projects of 1.451 trillion yuan, accounting for 95% of the funds that have been issued at the provincial level.
Judging from the use of funds, as of mid-August, out of the 1.7 trillion yuan, actual expenditures had been 509.7 billion yuan, of which 488.8 billion yuan was spent at the grassroots level in cities and counties, accounting for 95.9%, reflecting the policy effect of direct funding to the grassroots level. There are two levels of city and county, with 14.5% at the city level, 81.4% at the county level, and 4.1% at the provincial level, reflecting the real use of the grassroots.
If calculated according to the expenditure schedule, the actual expenditure amounted to 509.7 billion yuan, accounting for 30.5% of the funds already issued by the central government, which is 2.7% higher than the scheduled schedule. In other words, from the time of release to the end of the year, the current actual expenditure progress is about 2.7 percentage points higher than the even distribution of time. Since there are a lot of preparatory work in the initial stage, it is not necessarily reasonable to calculate directly according to the uniform distribution of time. Even this comparison, the progress is faster than the sequential time.
Xu Hongcai said that by adopting the above-mentioned special measures, that is, adopting the direct method, the progress of fund issuance has been significantly accelerated, and the efficiency of fund arrangement and use has been greatly improved. It has laid a good foundation for subsequent budget execution, and the speed will be further improved.
He pointed out that this institutional arrangement provides a strong guarantee for local areas to do a good job in the "six stability" and implement the tasks of the "six guarantees", and plays a very important role in stimulating consumption. Generally speaking, the implementation of specific policy measures will have a positive effect on investment, consumption, and import and export.