-- Government support for basic housing

We funded the rebuilding of 6.06 million housing units in rundown urban areas and 3.14 million dilapidated rural houses, meeting the targets for the year for both programs. The proportion of people displaced through such programs who received monetary housing compensation rather than housing reached 48.5 percent, up 18.6 percentage points over the previous year.

-- Reform and development in the cultural sector

We subsidized efforts to keep 49,871 public cultural facilities free to the public and make 1,260 public sports complexes free or inexpensive to public users. We also funded 1,791 programs to protect key national cultural relics. Support was given to encourage the creation and production of cultural products, facilitate cultural exchange with foreign countries, share Chinese culture globally, reform state-owned cultural enterprises directly under the central government, and promote the coordinated development of cultural programs and industries.

For a more detailed account of budget execution related to the above items, please refer to the Report on the Execution of the 2016 Budgets of the People's Republic of China and Its 2017 Draft Budgets in Chinese.

Overall, our fiscal operations in 2016 remained stable and achievements were made in the reform and development of public finance, which gave impetus to steady and sound economic and social development. We owe these achievements to the leadership of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council; to the oversight and guidance of the NPC, deputies to the NPC, the CPPCC National Committee and its members; and to the joint efforts of all regions, government departments, and the Chinese people.

On the other hand, we are soberly aware of the following main difficulties and problems in our fiscal operations and finance work.

-- Within the context of considerable downward pressure on China's economy, there is a lack of impetus for government revenue growth and the growth prospects of local government revenue are mixed; imbalances in government revenue and expenditures are becoming more pronounced in some regions that are resource-dependent or whose traditional industries have a large share in their respective economies; and some township-level governments are having financial difficulty in keeping themselves operating and meeting people's basic needs.

-- The structure of budgetary spending is not balanced, with spending on some items constantly increasing.

-- Some reform measures have not truly been implemented as they should while for others progress has been slow.

-- The management of transfer payments is in urgent need of standardization as special transfer payments have yet to be overhauled to full effect, and progress in the reform of the transfer payment systems at and below the provincial level has been patchy.

-- In some localities, budgets and final accounts lack transparency, the use of government funds is not in line with standards and ineffective, and more funds are becoming idle.

-- Some localities are weak on government debt management and are guarantying debt or making borrowings in breach of regulations, thus increasing the hidden debt-related risks of local governments.

We view these problems as extremely important and will take measures to effectively resolve them.

II. Draft Central and Local Budgets for 2017

The year 2017 is an important year for implementing the 13th Five-Year Plan and continuing the supply-side structural reform. The new normal in China's economic development is becoming more evident, the fundamentals of the Chinese economy remain favorable for long-term growth, market dynamism is being unleashed, and new drivers of development continue to grow. On the other hand, factors causing instability and uncertainty in the global economy are growing markedly, and China's economy is confronted with many serious problems and difficulties.

On the fiscal front, the potential for increasing revenue exists together with factors that may cause revenue to decline. The divergence between regions in terms of revenue growth will continue. Pressure is mounting from demands for spending in key areas and on inflexible items. The imbalance between revenue and expenditure remains serious. All levels of government must tighten their belts, act as advocates for hard work, plain living, and thrift, and use more financial resources on things that bring tangible benefits to the people.

1.The thinking and principles guiding the preparation of the 2017 budgets and public finance work

Given the fiscal and economic situations we face, the thinking guiding the compilation of this year's budgets and public finance work is that we need to:

-- Follow the leadership of the Party Central Committee with Xi Jinping at its core

-- Uphold the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics

-- Put into practice the guiding principles from the 18th National Party Congress and the third through sixth plenary sessions of the 18th Party Central Committee

-- Follow the guidance of the Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Theory of Three Represents and the Theory of Sustainable and Balanced Development

-- Put into effect the guiding principles from President Xi Jinping's major policy addresses and his new concepts, thoughts, and strategies related to the governance of China

-- Move ahead with the plan for promoting balanced economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological progress

-- Implement the Four-Pronged Comprehensive Strategy*

-- Continue to make progress while working to keep performance stable

-- Embrace and apply China's new development philosophy

-- Understand, adapt to, and guide the new normal in economic development

-- Concentrate on raising the quality and efficiency of growth

-- Ensure that macro-level policy maintains economic stability, industrial policy is targeted, micro-level policy injects dynamism into the economy, reform policy delivers results, and social policy sees that basic needs are met

-- Focus on advancing supply-side structural reform

-- See that aggregate demand is appropriately expanded

-- Strengthen guidance over expectations

-- Ensure that development is more driven by innovation

-- Make fiscal policy more proactive and effective

-- Channel serious energy into cutting taxes and fees

-- Continue the reform of our fiscal and tax systems

-- Work hard to create a modern public finance system

-- Tighten our belts

-- Step up efforts to improve and integrate government expenditures, ensuring spending in key areas

-- See dormant budgetary funds put to good use

-- Use government funds to greater effect

-- Strictly implement the Budget Law

-- Raise capacity for legal compliance in the management of public finance

-- Strengthen management over local government debt

-- Prevent and defuse fiscal risks

-- Promote steady and healthy economic growth and social harmony and stability

This should ensure that we greet the 19th National Party Congress with brilliant achievements.

In line with this thinking, we make sure the following principles underpin our preparation of the 2017 budgets:

First, cutting taxes and fees

We should continue to implement and improve policies aimed at reducing taxes and fees -including the replacement of business tax with VAT- and introduce new measures to cut taxes and fees, further reducing the burden of businesses and making sure tax and fee cuts have positive effects on economic and social development.

Second, continuing the reform of our fiscal and tax systems

With a view to creating a modern public finance system, we should move faster to improve the way fiscal powers and expenditure responsibilities are shared between the central and local governments, appropriately determine how they share revenue, work on improving local tax systems, and work to establish fiscal and tax systems whereby the powers, responsibilities, and interests of the central and local governments are clearly defined so that full play is given to the initiative of both.

Third, continuing to adjust and improve our spending structure

On the basis of appropriate expenditure increases, we should work toward stopping spending on some items from constantly increasing and make a big push to cut general expenditures so that our limited funds are used for our priorities. We need to better meet the demands of moving ahead with supply-side structural reform and meeting the basic needs of the people.

Fourth, putting idle budgetary funds to use

We should be integrating special funds that share similar policy goals, investment directions, and modes of management, and transfer more funds from budgets for government-managed funds and state capital operations into general public budgets.

Fifth, guarding against and defusing fiscal risks

We need to keep the deficit-to-GDP ratio at a reasonable level, work to impose ceilings on government debt and bring it under budgetary management, and improve mechanisms for local governments to secure financing and respond to debt-related risk emergencies. We need to give stronger financial support to regions with extremely tough conditions and administrative areas at the provincial level facing particular difficulties to ensure steady operations in their public finance.

*To make comprehensive moves to finish building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, deepen reform, advance the law-based governance of China, and strengthen Party self-governance.

2. Fiscal policy for 2017

Fiscal policy for 2017 will be more proactive and we will work to implement it more effectively.

First, continuing to cut taxes and fees in favor of enterprises

We will improve the policy on trials to replace business tax with VAT, and ensure that tax reductions achieve a greater impact. We will halve corporate income tax for more small and micro businesses by raising annual taxable corporate income threshold from 300,000 to 500,000 yuan. The portion of spending on research and development by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that is eligible for tax deductions will be raised from 50 to 75 percent. The reduction and exemption policy on six taxes, including the land use tax on logistics companies renting township land for commodity storage facilities, expired at the end of 2016, but we will continue to implement it this year, which will reduce taxes on enterprises by approximately 350 billion yuan. We will fully overhaul government-managed funds to ensure that they are managed according to standards, cancel funds such as the urban public facility surcharges, and authorize local governments to reduce or waive payments into certain funds. We will cancel or suspend 35 central government administrative charges on enterprises, cutting these charges by another more than 50 percent, and release the lists of central and local government administrative charges to the public. We will further overhaul and exercise standard-based management of business and service fees and charges, and make an appropriate cut in the ratio of enterprise contributions to the old-age insurance, medical insurance, unemployment insurance, workers' compensation, maternity insurance, and housing provident fund schemes. All told, this will reduce fees and charges on enterprises by around 200 billion yuan this year.

Second, keeping the deficit-to-GDP ratio at 3 percent while moderately expanding spending

We will keep the deficit-to-GDP ratio the same as last year, and allow an increase in the deficit that corresponds to GDP growth. While working to reduce taxes and fees in support of tax credit policies, the central and local governments must use appropriate revenue budgeting and put all dormant budgetary funds to good use to ensure there is no contraction in spending intensity and there is an expansion in real spending.

Third, ensuring fiscal funding for key areas and making government spending more effective and targeted

In using financial resources newly acquired or freed up by adjusting dormant budgetary funds, we will give preference to promoting supply-side structural reform and ensuring effective demand moderately expands. We will increase investment in key areas of work including meeting our people's basic needs, poverty alleviation, agriculture, education, and promoting ecological progress, and will further slant financial allocations to favor regions facing difficulties as well as counties and townships. We will see that government funds are used more efficiently, and strengthen fiscal capacity to guarantee basic public services.

In implementing proactive fiscal policy, we will endeavor to promote supply-side structural reform and give impetus to the resolution of structural imbalances in supply and demand. In our continued support for the resettlement of workers laid off from the iron, steel, and coal industries as overcapacity is cut, we will make awards and subsidies available based on the level of progress being made in resettling workers in different regions and implement and improve related policies. Regions that face bigger difficulties in resettling workers and meeting spending needs will be given greater priority in relation to resettlement awards and subsidies and relevant employment funds. We will work to prevent and defuse risks resulting from overcapacity in the coal and electricity industries.

We will provide financial support for continued agricultural supply-side structural reform. We will strive to see that the financial sector serves the real economy more efficiently, and more credit flows into the real economy. We will fully leverage the role of funds for promoting industrial transformation and upgrading to support smart manufacturing, green manufacturing, initiatives to build robust foundations for industry development, and the development of manufacturing innovation hubs, and to speed up implementation of the Made in China 2025 strategy.

We will make the funds available for implementation of the development plan for China's strategic emerging industries in the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), giving impetus to the growth of strategic emerging industries including energy conservation and environmental protection, next-generation information technology, and high-end equipment manufacturing. We will increase financial support for efforts to popularize application for first sets of key equipment, and will bring new materials under the coverage of insurance subsidies for initial applications of certain products.

We will continue to earmark funds for the development of SMEs and finance the initiative to designate demonstration cities to act as business startup and innovation hubs for small and micro businesses. We will speed up the investment and operations of the National Fund for the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and the National Venture Capital Guide Fund for Emerging Industries. We will continue to implement a host of tax credit policies such as those concerning the accelerated depreciation of fixed assets and maker spaces, so as to support business startups and innovations by the general public. We will step up work to pilot the construction of underground urban utility tunnels and the development of sponge cities to improve urban infrastructure. We will set up the Innovative Development Guide Fund for Trade in Services in a bid to cultivate new competitive edges in foreign trade. We will support the implementation of the three key initiatives: the Belt and Road Initiative, the coordinated development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, and the development of the Yangtze River economic belt in order to promote coordinated development between regions.

The main policies regarding expenditures in 2017 are as follows:

-- Education

From the spring semester, we will introduce a unified policy whereby Chinese students receiving compulsory education are exempted from paying tuition and fees and paying for textbooks and a subsidy will be provided for the living expenses of students from families with financial difficulties. We will also ensure that the funds for these exemptions and subsidies as well as for the public funding benchmark per student are transferred if students change schools. We will continue to provide funding for improving conditions at badly built or poorly operated schools and other initiatives and for addressing the prominent problems in developing rural compulsory education. We will continue to implement the action plan for preschool education. We will provide financial support for infrastructure improvement for modern vocational education, integration between vocational education and industry, and cooperation between colleges and businesses. We will increase government grants for PhD candidates. We will ensure proper implementation of the budgetary appropriation system for central government institutions of higher learning so that efforts are coordinated to develop world-class universities and disciplines. We will provide further funding for moves to combat poverty through developing education with the focus on poor areas and populations.

-- Science and technology

We will give more financial support to basic research, research on cutting-edge technologies, research for the public benefit, and research and development for major generic key technologies. We will strengthen work to ensure stable financial support for public benefit research institutes (centers) and make funds available to facilitate the reform and development of research institutions and promote the open sharing of scientific and technological resources. We will finance efforts to further advance the establishment of a number of national laboratories in important fields of innovation and implement major science and technology projects. We will provide support to the launch of the Programs for Technological Innovation 2030.

-- Social security and employment

We will increase basic pension payments for retirees as appropriate and establish a mechanism for making reasonable adjustments to basic pensions. We will take steady steps to reform the basic old-age insurance system and expand its coverage. On the basis of progress in all related reform work, we will establish a central regulation system for basic old-age insurance funds. We will also formulate a plan for the transfer of a portion of state capital into social security funds. We will strengthen management over basic pension fund revenue and expenditures, and take effective measures to guard against payment risks.

We will step up the coordination of resources for social assistance and carefully determine the most appropriate subsistence allowances for Chinese citizens. We will improve our policies for providing assistance to people living in extreme poverty. We will strengthen work to secure the welfare of children living in difficult circumstances and ensure care and protection for children remaining in rural areas while their parents work away. We will strengthen financial support for programs that benefit people with disabilities.

We will adjust subsidies and living allowances for entitled groups at an appropriate time. Well-regulated trials will be carried out to establish long-term care insurance schemes. We will implement more proactive employment policies, improving our policies and measures for promoting employment and startups and doing more to help key groups find employment. We will conduct research on developing a system for life-long vocational skills training.

-- Health care

We will improve the mechanisms to ensure stable and sustainable funding for basic medical insurance and to adjust reimbursement rates for medical expenses, uphold the principle that benefit levels must be appropriate, and give particular weight to protection against major diseases. We will increase both annual government subsidies and personal contributions for basic health insurance for rural and non-working urban residents by 30 yuan, bringing the total up to 180 and 450 yuan a year per person, respectively. We will bring basic medical insurance funds under budgetary management and roll out reforms nationwide to the way medical payouts are made, using predominantly payouts according to the type of illness plus multiple other methods, and work to curb any unreasonable growth in medical costs. We will help carry out comprehensive reforms in public hospitals nationwide and improve the operating systems of community-level medical and healthcare institutions. We will raise the basic annual per capita government subsidies for public health services from 45 to 50 yuan.We will support the law-based development of traditional Chinese medicine. Having adopted the policy of allowing all couples to have two children, we will strengthen our maternity medical and healthcare services.

-- Poverty alleviation

The central government will allocate 86.1 billion yuan to subsidize local poverty reduction, an increase of 20 billion yuan, or 30.3 percent over last year. The funds will be used to support implementation of the fundamental strategy of targeted poverty reduction. We will coordinate the use of funds allocated to fields including agriculture, education, social security, and health care that are earmarked for poverty alleviation; further boost investment in the fight against poverty; and ensure that government investment plays a principal and guiding role in poverty reduction through development. We will speed up work to improve the infrastructure and basic public services in poor areas and step up support for reducing poverty by developing local industries, promoting education, and improving health standards. The integration of different rural development funds will be piloted in poor counties throughout the country. We will carry out inspections on the use of funds for poverty reduction.

-- Agriculture, forestry, and water conservation

We will implement the reform plan for building an agricultural subsidy system geared toward ecological conservation, improve our system for subsidizing agriculture, ensure subsidy policies are more precise and better targeted, and boost the development of new industries and new forms of business in agriculture.

We will take constructive, steady steps to reform the pricing mechanism and the purchase and storage systems for grain and other important agricultural products; and we will continue and improve the minimum purchase price policy for rice and wheat, making reasonable adjustments to these prices, to enable reasonable parity between prices. We will make sure the reform of the corn purchase and storage system is carried out effectively, and will improve the system for subsidizing corn production. We will work to reduce excess stockpiles of policy-supported grain and cotton. We will adjust and improve the guaranteed base price policy for cotton and improve the way in which the subsidy for cotton production is granted. We will also adjust the guaranteed base price policy for soybeans. We will improve the mechanism for subsidizing major grain-producing areas and work to better utilize risk funds for grain.

We will increase food crop production based on farmland management and the application of technology, develop high-efficiency water-saving irrigation, and significantly scale up the development of high-grade farmland and land improvement. We will continue support for trials to restore cultivated land contaminated by heavy metals and adjust the production mix of agricultural products, and will expand the coverage of work to deal comprehensively with the over-abstraction of groundwater in north China.

We will step up support for post-disaster water conservancy construction in areas in need of attention. We will move forward with adjusting the production mix of food, cash, and fodder crops, and facilitate the development of appropriately scaled-up agricultural operations. We will move faster to make progress in the development and operation of an agricultural credit guaranty system at and below the provincial level. We will support forest protection, management, and cultivation, and step up support for afforestation and forest improvement efforts.We will improve the dynamic mechanism for adjusting compensation for forest management and conservation efforts that produce a positive ecological impact. We will support wetland protection and restoration efforts to encourage the resumption of wetland growth. We will deepen comprehensive reform in rural areas, move ahead with reforms in state farms, farms on reclaimed land, state forestry farms, forestry areas, and rural supply and marketing cooperatives, and develop and strengthen collective village enterprises.