Pro-poor Fiscal Reforms and Building New Socialist Countryside

Pro-poor Fiscal Reforms and Building New Socialist Countryside

November 14, 2006

The First High-Level Forum on Fiscal Reform in China

  
    BEIJING, China, Nov. 14 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- The
first Annual Forum on China's Fiscal Reform was opened
today in Beijing, jointly organized by the Ministry of
Finance, the State Administration of Taxation (SAT), the
China International Center for Economic and Technical
Exchanges (CICETE) under the Ministry of Commerce, and the
United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) in China. 

    First of its kind in China, the 2-day forum serves as a
platform for policy makers and stakeholders to discuss and
debate how China's fiscal reforms can be made most
beneficial to the poor. This high-level dialogue highlights
the role of local governments in China which bear the
primary responsibility of providing basic social services
to the poor. 

    "China has made enormous progress in economic and
social development in recent decades," said Khalid
Malik, United Nations Resident Coordinator and UNDP
Resident Representative in China, while delivering a
keynote speech during the forum. "However, the depth
and coverage of China's fiscal reform process has been
uneven, and there is scope for strengthening the links
between fiscal reforms and poverty reduction goals."

    "From growth-orientation to promoting greater
equity, fiscal policy must play a central role in this
shift," he stressed.

    Under the theme "Pro-poor Fiscal Reform and
Building New Socialist Countryside in China," this
forum was set up as an institutionalized mechanism under a
US$10.3 million project, established between the Government
of China and UNDP, with support from the Department for
International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom. 

    Entitled "Capacity Building to Support Pro-Poor
Fiscal Reforms in China," this 4-year initiative was
designed to support China's pro-poor fiscal reform on both
the expenditure and the revenue fronts. It aims to make
national fiscal policies more pro-poor and implemented more
effectively at local levels through policy research and
capacity building activities. 

    This programme will propose new options for pro-poor
fiscal policy design to ensure the delivery  of basic
public services to the most needed. This is hoped to tackle
the major fiscal challenge facing China, as local
governments often suffer from restricted financial
resources to provide basic social services. 

    The project is also supporting China to develop a
strategic framework to reassign taxation powers, deepen
local taxation reform and formulate basic tax law. It also
helps local governments set up an incentive framework for
environmental protection through tax increase, and explore
new options for broadening the tax base. 

    "Taxation, as an important instrument of
macro-economic management, should and will play a more
active role in balancing urban and rural development,
regional equalization, reducing unempolyment and
environmental protection", said Wang Li, Deputy
Administrator of the SAT. 

    About UNDP:

    UNDP fosters human development to empower women and men
to build better lives in China. As the UN's development
network, UNDP draws on a world of experience to assist
China in developing its own solutions to the country's
development challenges. Through partnerships and
innovation, UNDP works to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals and an equitable Xiao Kang society by
reducing poverty, strengthening the rule of law, promoting
environmental sustainability, and fighting HIV/AIDS. 
http://www.undp.org.cn

    For more information, please contact: 

     Ms. Zhang Wei
     Communications Officer, 
     UNDP China 
     Tel:   [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]

SOURCE  United Nations Development Programme