Social spending boom in China amid unrest fears
China vowed a massive boost yesterday to social programmes even as the global crisis placed a severe strain on government budgets, reflecting growing worries about the potential for unrest.
In a speech to lawmakers laden with warnings about the threats to social stability in the world's most populous country, Premier Wen Jiabao heralded steep spending increases, including nearly 40 percent more for health care.
"Maintaining a certain growth rate for the economy is essential for expanding employment for both urban and rural residents, increasing people's incomes and ensuring social stability," Wen told parliament.
"Improving people's lives is always the starting and end point of our economic work," he said in his much-anticipated address, which opened the nine-day annual full session of the legislature.
Among the big-ticket items mentioned by Wen was a rise in spending on social security of 17.6 percent to 293 billion yuan (43 billion dollars), and a whopping 38.2 percent increase in health care spending to 118.1 billion yuan.
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