cctv news (news broadcast) : hit by the covid-19 epidemic, the gap between china's fiscal revenue and expenditure has widened significantly since the beginning of this year. how to solve the budget pressure? how to ensure spending on people's livelihood? how will fiscal policy work this year? take a look at our reporter's interview with finance minister liu kun.
since the beginning of this year, due to the impact of the epidemic and the reduction of taxes and fees, general public budget revenue in the first half of this year has dropped by 10.8% year on year. will we be able to meet all fiscal targets and tasks this year? to this, liu kun introduces, since the second quarter positive factor increases obviously.
in order to cope with the impact of the epidemic, we have adopted a "supplementary" fiscal policy, issuing 1 trillion yuan of special treasury bonds to support local infrastructure development and epidemic prevention and control. at present, some of the special national debt funds for fighting the epidemic have been sent to the city and county level after deducting the part retained by the provincial level according to regulations.
a highlight of this year's proactive fiscal policy is to distribute funds directly to the grassroots level. through the establishment of a special transfer payment mechanism, the 2 trillion yuan raised by this year's increase in the government deficit and the issuance of special covid-19 treasury bonds will reach cities and counties directly, benefiting enterprises and the people.
as of july 29, of the 1.7 trillion yuan of funds under direct management, provincial financial departments had allocated 1.50 trillion yuan to direct management, and municipal and county financial departments had allocated 1.29 trillion yuan to specific projects, providing effective financial support for the implementation of the "six guarantees" and the implementation of tax cuts and fees.
in addition, due to the impact of the epidemic, some local governments have had a difficult year, with some experiencing financial constraints. to address this problem, liu kun said that the task of this year's fiscal work is to ensure that the bottom line of the basic level "three guarantees" is secured.
liu kun said that in spite of the serious contradiction between government revenue and expenditure, the fiscal policy has not stopped cutting taxes and fees, and a series of tax and fee reduction policies have been introduced. it is expected that the total amount of tax cuts and fee reductions will exceed 2.5 trillion yuan for the whole year.
source: chinanews.com