BEIJING, July 20 -- China's central treasury has allocated 13.9 billion yuan (about 2.3 billion U.S. dollars) to support poverty reduction efforts in rural areas, the Ministry of Finance said Monday.

This was the last batch of a 46.1-billion-yuan fund designated for poverty relief from the central budget this year. The sum was 8 percent more than that of 2014, the ministry said in a statement on its website.

The money will be spent to improve rural roads and homes, build better public services, give small loans to new businesses and provide free vocational education and training to young people in poverty-stricken areas, according to a plan issued earlier.

Poverty reduction remains a challenging task for Chinese policymakers, with over 70 million people living below the country's poverty line, which means an annual income under 2,300 yuan.

Though the government's poverty relief fund has nearly doubled in four years, the effect is far below expectation: Only 12.32 million people emerged from poverty last year, compared with 43.29 million in 2011.