China grants over 200 bln yuan from central budget for investment

BEIJING, April 17 (Xinhua) -- More than 200 billion yuan (about 28.16 billion U.S. dollars) worth of central budget funds have been granted to expand effective investment so far this year, an official with the country's top economic planner said on Wednesday.

The earmarked funds accounted for more than 30 percent of the annual planned amount, Liu Sushe, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission told a press conference, adding that the commission will accelerate the allocation of relevant funds, strengthen project supervision, and improve the efficiency of the use of central budget funds.

A total of 700 billion yuan will be earmarked from the central government budget for investment in 2024, according to this year's government work report.

Apart from central budget funds, China also plans to issue 3.9 trillion yuan of special-purpose bonds for local governments, an increase of 100 billion yuan over last year.

The commission has completed the preliminary selection of local government special-purpose bond projects, Liu said, adding that this batch has ample projects and huge capital needs, laying a solid foundation for the issuance and use of local government bonds.

Efforts have also been made to promote the implementation of projects supported by an additional 1 trillion yuan worth of treasury bonds allocated in 2023, Liu said. The commission has allocated the funds to 15,000 projects and will promote these projects to start construction before the end of June.