Numerical goals met in the 2017 Government Work Report

2017-12-31
english.gov.cn

In early 2017, Premier Li Keqiang pledged in the Government Work Report to improve people’s lives by setting a list of numerical goals for the year. As the year-end is drawing near, let’s take a look at how those goals have been achieved.

Employment

In the report, a commitment was made to create more than 11 million jobs in China’s urban regions. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the number of newly added positions had hit 11.91 million as of October.

Shantytown renovations

The report set a target to renovate 6 million apartments in dilapidated areas. By the year’s end, 6.09 million apartments have been transformed, with investments reaching 1.84 trillion yuan ($279.6 billion), according to the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.

Social security funds

The report also made a plan to transfer a part of State assets to social security funds. In an action plan issued Nov 18 by the State Council, it was decided that the transfer proportion would be 10 percent of the State-owned shares.

Medicine prices and roaming charges

It was determined in the report that all markups on medicine prices as well as charges for domestic long-distance calls and roaming should be canceled. By September 2017, those charges had become history.

Health insurance subsidy

As stated in the report, the government subsidy for health insurance will be increased from 420 yuan to 450 yuan per person every year. Through efforts of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the Ministry of Finance, the 30-yuan gap had been filled to meet the target subsidy in 2017.

Rural roads

Also in the report, it was pledged that 200,000 kilometers of rural roads would be built or renovated. On Dec 26, the Ministry of Transport said it had renovated 285,000 km of rural roads during the year.