XI'AN - The poverty relief fund backed by the centrally-administered State-owned enterprises (SOE) has set up sub-funds worth 5.4 billion yuan (about $860 million) in nine provinces.

Some of the funds have been used to develop local tourism, animal husbandry and the new energy sector in provinces with large poor populations, including Guizhou, Henan and Qinghai, according to Wang Weidong, general manager of the company that runs the central SOE poverty relief fund.

The central SOE poverty relief fund has so far enlisted 104 shareholders with a total funding of 15.4 billion yuan since it was launched in October 2016.

Policy makers have listed poverty alleviation as one of the country's "three tough battles" for the next three years, along with risk prevention and pollution control.

The government aims to lift over 10 million people out of poverty this year, including relocating 2.8 million people from inhospitable areas, and China is aiming to eliminate poverty by 2020 in a bid to create a "moderately prosperous society."