The Ministry of Finance will on Monday submit the report on the implementation of 2006 central and local budgets and on the draft budgets for 2007 to the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, scheduled to start in the Great Hall of the People at 9 AM Monday.

 

The following are some of the figures of the 42-page budget report, which was distributed to journalists prior to the opening of the NPC session:

 

-- Total combined revenue in the draft central and local budgets for 2007 is 4.406485 trillion yuan, 533.423 billion yuan or 13.8 percent more than that for 2006. Total expenditures in the draft central and local budgets amount to 4.651485 trillion yuan, up 15.7 percent.

 

-- The 2007 central budget has allocated 347.232 billion yuan for national defense, up 17.8 percent from last year.

 

-- The central government deficit is tentatively set at 245 billion yuan, 50 billion yuan less than the figure in the 2006 budget. Total central government investment is set at 130.4 billion yuan, 15 billion yuan more than the 115.4 billion yuan total in the 2006 budget.

 

-- A total of 391.7 billion yuan will be allocated from the central budget for agriculture, rural areas and farmers for 2007, up 15.3 percent.

 

-- Central government allocations for education in 2007 will total 85.854 billion yuan, up 41.7 percent.

 

-- The central government has earmarked 31.276 billion yuan for 2007 expenditures for medical care and public health, up 86.8 percent over 2006.

 

-- The central government will spend 201.927 billion yuan in 2007 for social security and employment effort, up 13.9 percent.

 

-- Allocations in the central budget for expenditures in science and technology in 2007 total 88.121 billion yuan, a 20.1 percent increase over 2006.

 

(Xinhua News Agency March 5, 2007)