Allowance Now Paid to 19.308m Chinese Urban Needy

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, July 19, 2002

Allowance Now Paid to 19.308m Chinese Urban Needy

A total of 19.308 million Chinese eligible to receive a minimum living allowance have received it --the first time China has managed to pay the basic living allowanceto all the urban needy.

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A total of 19.308 million Chinese eligible to receive a minimum living allowance have received it --the first time China has managed to pay the basic living allowanceto all the urban needy.

Chen Jiechang, spokesman of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, saidhere Friday that most of the recipients are employees of debt-ridden enterprises or unemployed and their family members living in old industrial bases in central and western China.

This year, a budget fund of 10.53 billion yuan (about 1.27 billion US dollars), 91 percent up from 1991, has been paid into the allowance system.

Of that, 4.6 billion yuan (about 554.2 million US dollars) is from the state revenue and 5.93 billion yuan (about 714.5 million US dollars) from local governments.

Vice Minister Yang Yanyin said, "As the number of urban needy will probably hit 20 million at the year's end, the most urgent task is to standardize our management and to maintain the current positive momentum."

According to Yang, the ministry has recorded detailed information of every urban person in need receiving the allowance and plans to launch a large-scale check on the distribution of fund and the qualification of the receivers.

"Once illegality and violation were found, relevant individualsand institutions will be severely punished," she said.

Yang said a state guaranteed basic living allowance is unprecedented in China but there are still a number of decisions need to be made and thorny issues solved.

"For instance", she said, "how can we calculate the number of the urban needy who are eligible, fairly and how do we set and adjust the bottom-line monthly income more effectively?"

To improve work efficiency and transparency, the ministry has begun to set up a nationwide information system.

In May, trial information management software was widely distributed and 13 provinces and municipalities have had civil affairs personnel above county levels trained.

To make sure the supply of fund in the basic livelihood guarantee system steady and sufficient, the ministry also plans, with the help of the Ministry of Finance, to draft regulations which show the duty of government departments at various levels.

Meanwhile, the central government also promises to give more financial support to poverty-stricken places to fulfill their quota of payments.

Following its pilot program in Shanghai in 1993, the basic security system targeting urban households whose per capita monthly income falls below the official amount set was widely spread throughout China in 1997.

The basic monthly income varies in different regions but averages 152 yuan (about 18.3 US dollars).

With increased capital investment from both the state and localrevenue, this average is expected to rise in the near future.

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