China, charting a course of more modest economic growth and mild inflation, yesterday forecast a US$38.6 billion budget deficit this year as it shifts resources to help an impoverished countryside catch up with wealthier cities.
China's development chief, Ma Kai, told the National People's Congress he aimed to keep the world's sixth-biggest economy from being roiled by "big ups and downs."
Ma, who heads the State Development and Reform Commission, a powerful ministry in charge of steering China's breakneck economy, targeted economic growth of around 7 percent last year, a more modest pace than the 9.1 percent pace last year.
There was no hint that China would move soon to revalue its fixed currency, a source of friction with large trade partners like the US who say it gives China an unfair trade advantage.
In laying out the annual budget, Finance Minister Jin Renqing said spending would rise 7 percent and that stimulus bonds once used for public works would be used to boost healthcare, education and other services in the vast countryside.
The rural aid was welcomed with open relief by some of the nearly 3,000 delegates attending the 10-day congress, such as Lin Dongchi, a teacher from China's impoverished southern region of Guangxi.
"We really need this money," Lin, her voice cracking with emotion, said after Jin delivered his speech in the cavernous Great Hall of the People bordering Tiananmen Square.
China, which has issued special bonds every year since the 1997 Asian financial crisis, planned to issue 110 billion yuan worth this year, down 20 percent from last year, Jin said.
The ruling Communist Party fears that a widening wealth gap caused as cities and coastal areas race ahead of the backward hinterland could undermine its authority over the country's 1.3 billion people.
"The government is now stressing a balance between growth and social development. The countryside has developed more slowly and they need more subsidies," said Xie Weihe, a Beijing professor who is a member of an advisory body to parliament.
This year's congress has kicked off with a string of officials signalling an easing of an economy that has quickly become a source of global fascination as it suctions up materials and spews out cheap exports.
Premier Wen Jiabao on Friday vowed to cool off the economy and help hundreds of millions of farmers who are angry at stagnant living standards, corruption and lack of basic services.
But the airing of grievances in China goes only so far.
Plainclothes police dragged one man away from the hall's east gate yesterday after he tried to unveil a placard. It was unclear what he was protesting against, but petitioners from around China come to the capital each year to air grievances.
Jin predicted government expenditure of 2.68 trillion yuan, up 7 percent from last year. That would be nearly 320 billion yuan more than expected revenue, but also mark the first time in several years the deficit has not widened.
"Currently there is a certain uncertainty in global economic development, and the foundation for the sustained development of China's economy is not too stable," Jin said, explaining more deficit spending by the world's fastest-growing major economy.
To help fund this year's budget shortfall and repay old debt, Jin outlined plans to issue 702 billion yuan in treasury bonds this year, about 14 percent more than last year's planned issue of 615 billion yuan.
Ma's outline highlighted the peculiarities of China, where torrid economic growth sits alongside rising unemployment.
Ma said he expected joblessness to rise this year, to 4.7 percent from 4.3 percent last year. Millions in China have been thrown out of work each year as inefficient state companies shed excess workers.
Ma said China aims to check inflation at three percent and cap money supply growth at around 17 percent, a move meant to staunch a flood of money that helped push annual inflation to 3.2 percent in January, the highest level in nearly seven years.
Outlining other economic targets, Ma said China would work to "perfect the exchange rate mechanism" of the yuan while keeping the currency -- pegged at about 8.28 yuan to the US dollar -- basically stable.
Total foreign trade was targeted for an 8 percent rise, Ma said without detailing exports and imports. Last year, China's exports jumped nearly 35 percent. Imports soared almost 40 percent.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors