Recent simplified procedures for farmers to get subsidies on purchases of home electrical appliances had spurred sales of the products throughout China, said a Finance Ministry official Tuesday at the 4th Central China Expo in this capital city of Anhui Province.

Subsidized home-appliances sale in rural areas is part of China's efforts to sustain economic growth amid the international financial crisis through stimulating domestic consumption. China began to spread the campaign to the whole country as of the end of last year.

According to Zeng Xiao'an, deputy head of economic construction department of the Ministry of Finance, the first quarter of this year saw China sell nearly 6 million home electrical appliances in rural areas, with a month-on-month growth rate of more than 70 percent in each of the first three months.

Zeng said the subsidized sale at home also helped struggling domestic electrical appliances manufacturers to survive the international economic downturn which had driven down their exports.

The subsidized sale targeted at farmers cover color TV sets, refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, water heaters, personal computers, mobile phones, microwave ovens and induction cookers.

The three-day 4th Central China Expo, which was due to conclude Tuesday, targeted six central provinces -- Anhui, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Henan and Shanxi -- and attracted about 16,000 participants from about 300 multi-national companies such as Carrefour and IBM.

(Xinhua News Agency April 28, 2009)