China offers US$1b subsidies to disadvantaged communities
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-06-07 11:44
Vice Finance Minister Zhu Zhigang said on Tuesday that China has offered a
total of 8.48 billion yuan (over 1 billion U.S. dollars) in subsidies to the
country's disadvantaged communities, including grain growers, fishermen, and
taxi drivers.
Addressing a national meeting for officials from central
and provincial finance departments, the vice-minister urged local departments to
deliver the subsidies to the selected sectors, including the public transport
sector.
China has raised prices of processed oil twice in the first five
months of this year.
Following its oil price hikes last March, China raised
the prices by over 10 percent on May 24.
China's net oil import in 2005
totaled 136 million tons in 2005, about 42.9 percent of its total oil
consumption.
China has to balance oil price hikes and assistance to
those communities and sectors vulnerable to higher oil prices on the
international market.
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