中外减贫信息摘要
Poverty Reduction Briefing
2019. No. 4 (Mar. 1-10, 2019)
State and Ministerial Policy News:
Li Keqiang: We will firmly implement poverty alleviation in 2019 and lay a solid foundation for the battle against poverty. As presiding over the executive meeting of the State Council in Beijing, Li Keqiang, Premier of the State Council, pointed out that in 2019, efforts should be intensified to tackle the key problems in the destitute areas. During the 13th Five-Year Plan, priority should be given to the project of making up the shortcomings in poverty-stricken areas. Poverty alleviation cooperation and targeted poverty alleviation should be strengthened; current standards should be stuck to and the quality of poverty alleviation should be improved, so as to solve the essential problems of poverty-stricken population concerning their food, clothing, compulsory education, basic medical care and housing security.
Source: xinhuanet.com Feb. 11, 2019
Hu Chunhua emphasized that destitute areas are the main battlefield to test the progress and effectiveness of poverty alleviation at the forum on poverty alleviation in destitute areas. General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instruction on poverty alleviation should be put into practice, and the purport of the Central Economic Working Conference and the Central Rural Work Conference should be implemented. With more solid measures and actions, we should comprehensively promote poverty alleviation in destitute areas, ensuring that the well-off society could be built in an all-round way according to the national plan.
Source: People’s Daily Feb. 14, 2019
The National Bureau of Statistics: In 2018, the poverty-stricken population in rural areas decreased by 13.86 million, compared with that at the end of 2017. The poverty incidence was 1.7 percent, 1.4 percentage point lower than 2017. In 2018, the per capita disposable income of rural residents in poverty-stricken areas hits 10,371 yuan with the actual growth of 8.3 percent. The actual growth rate was 1.7 percentage points higher than the national growth rate in rural areas, thus the annual target of growth rate was fulfilled.
Source: xinhuanet.com Feb. 15, 2019
National Health Commission: County hospitals in national-level poverty-stricken counties have achieved full coverage of telemedicine. Since the tertiary hospitals were paired up with county hospitals in poverty-stricken counties, all the county hospitals in national-level poverty-stricken counties have achieved full coverage of telemedicine. At present, in poverty-stricken counties, more than 400 hospitals have been upgraded to the “secondary level hospitals of A Grade” and the medical service of more than 30 hospitals have been qualified for tertiary hospitals. The National Health Commission will further give full play to telemedicine and promote high-quality medical resources to the grass-root units.
Source: cctv.com Feb. 13, 2019
The People's Bank of China and other departments jointly published Guiding Opinions on Revitalization of Rural Areas through Financial Services to guide financial services in destitute areas. The Opinions point out that by 2020, new financial resources should be preferentially introduced into destitute areas. We should strive to keep the loan growth rate in destitute areas higher than that in the local province every year, and make the proportion of re-loans for poverty alleviation in destitute areas in the total number of the local province higher than that in the same period last year.
Source: People’s Daily Feb. 12, 2019
The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and other three departments launched the “2019 Spring Action” to promote poverty alleviation. The Action will focus on strengthening employment services, collecting posts through multiple channels, delivering information in advance, conducting various forms of recruitment and actively guiding market institutions to participate in. In addition, the Action will focus on improving the labor organization and poverty alleviation through employment in destitute areas such as "three regions and three prefectures" (Tibet Autonomous Region, Tibetan regions in four provinces, southern parts of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province, Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province, and Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture in Gansu Province), to effectively help poverty-stricken people get employed.
Source: mohrss.gov.cn Feb. 12, 2019
Local Poverty Alleviation News:
Shanghai intended to enhance the coordination of labor services between eastern and western regions to promote the targeted poverty alleviation through employment. Shanghai has launched "Spring Action" for 15 consecutive years. The theme of this year is "promoting employment transfer to push forward poverty alleviation". Shanghai will continue to utilize the poverty alleviation cooperation mechanism between eastern and western regions to provide accurate job and policy information for labor force in assisted areas with employment demand, by means of arranging employment poverty alleviation zone at job fairs, as well as "Internet Plus" services such as WeChat notifications and remote recruitment.
Source: Chinanews.com Feb. 12, 2019
Chongqing has distributed the first special poverty alleviation funds at the municipal level or above for 2019 to all districts and counties, providing a financial guarantee for the battle against poverty. The funds totaled 2.91 billion yuan, of which 1.86 billion yuan came from the central government and 1.05 billion yuan from the municipal government. The funds will be used for projects of deep poverty alleviation, poverty alleviation consolidation, education subsidies, discounts for poverty alleviation through relocation, collective economy pilots at village level and employment skill training for poverty-stricken people.
Source: Chongqing Daily Feb. 12, 2019
Chengde of Hebei Province and Beijing-Tianjin industries collaborate to push forward targeted poverty alleviation. Since 2016, Beijing and Tianjin have invested 1.5 billion yuan in Chengde as funds for 116 partner-assistance projects, benefiting 120,000 poverty-stricken people. In addition, in order to better carry out poverty alleviation cooperation and offer assistance, Beijing and Tianjin established the Office of Poverty Alleviation Cooperation in 2018, engaging in in-depth cooperation in talent exchange, funding, industrial cooperation, labor service cooperation and social assistance.
Source: Hebeinews.cn Feb. 11,2019
Shaanxi Province issued government bonds of 3.5 billion yuan to promote poverty alleviation through relocation. Shaanxi Province planned to complete poverty alleviation through relocation of the 13th Five-Year Plan in 2019, with the actual occupancy rate of the archived relocated households reaching 100 percent. By the end of 2020, the task of vacating from old residence will be completed and all the archived relocated households will stably shake off poverty. The bonds will effectively promote poverty alleviation through relocation.
Source: xinhuanet.com Feb. 11, 2019
Land consolidation has been initiated in 38 poverty-stricken counties in Sichuan Province, benefiting more than 300,000 people directly. The project involves 846,900 mu for construction, obtaining 68,300 mu of new arable land as estimated. The quality of arable land will be improved by a grade averagely, and the direct beneficiaries will reach more than 300,000. Bidding procedures for all the projects will be completed by the end of June, 2019; the construction will begin by the end of August; the project will be completed by November 30.
Source: Sichuan Daily Feb. 18, 2019
In 2018, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region issued loans of 54.5 billion yuan for targeted poverty alleviation. In recent years, Guangxi poverty alleviation micro-credit has taken the lead across the country in amount, risk control and coverage. The work focus has shifted from highlighting the rapid growth of the total amount to strengthening the management of stock loans and improving the coverage for poverty-stricken households. Since 2016, a total of 490,800 poverty-stricken households in Guangxi have been granted micro-credit for poverty alleviation, with an average of 46,000 yuan per household, effectively helping households shake off poverty.
Source: Guangxi Daily Feb 15, 2019
E-commerce speeds up poverty alleviation in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. Backed by a number of policies and measures such as the "Dream Building Plan", e-commerce in Ningxia has developed rapidly, featuring remarkable effect on poverty alleviation. At present, poverty alleviation through e-commerce in Ningxia has involved 864 administrative villages, accounting for 78.5 percent of archived local poverty-stricken villages. In 2018, Ningxia sold agricultural and sideline products of 2.582 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 856 million yuan. Rural online retail sales amounted to 7.3 billion yuan, accounting for 49 percent of the total sales across the region.
Source: Ningxia Daily Feb. 11, 2019
Twenty-five poverty-stricken counties and districts of Tibet Autonomous Region have shaken off poverty. Another 25 poverty-stricken counties and districts in Tibet, the only destitute province in China, have shaken off poverty this year. At present, Tibet has invested 15 billion yuan for more than 200,000 poverty-stricken people to relocate and start their new life. In areas with better resources and industrial conditions, industrial development has helped the poverty-stricken population get rid of poverty. More than 2,100 projects of poverty alleviation through industry have been implemented, helping 196,000 people shake off poverty.
Source: cctv.com Feb. 13, 2019
In 2018, a total of 6,525 people of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Production and Construction Corps lifted themselves out of poverty. Xinjiang Corps regards poverty alleviation as a major political task and livelihood project. In 2018, Xinjiang Corps invested poverty alleviation funds of 420 million yuanand achieved remarkable results. A total of 6,525 people in 1,598 households have got rid of poverty, and ten poverty-stricken farms have shaken off poverty with the poverty incidence dropping to 0.4 percent.
Source: Chinanews.com Feb. 15, 2019
Public Poverty Alleviation and Charity News:
China Unicom has launched the "Internet plus" poverty alleviation mode. China Unicom has set up poverty alleviation flagship stores online to help the online sales of commodities from poverty-stricken counties, and introduced a special column on the e-commerce platform to the public to alleviate poverty through online consumption. China Unicom takes advantage of mixed-ownership reform to create an “Internet plus” poverty alleviation mode, a new for centrally administered state-owned enterprises to assist poverty alleviation through consumption.
Source: Economic Information Daily Feb. 12, 2019
Sponsor: International Poverty Reduction Center in China (IPRCC)
Organize：China Institute for Poverty Reduction, Beijing Normal University
Contact: Xu Liping 84419659
Email: xuliping@iprcc.org.cn