(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-12-19 19:20

He said that next year, spending would also rise for education, scientific research, housing, energy conservation and emissions reduction and public security.

Fiscal leverage would be used to support the production of grain, edible oil and meat and other agricultural products to ensure supplies and curb inflation. Food prices constitute 33 percent of China's consumer price index, which rose by an 11-year-high of 6.9 percent in November.

The government will continue next year to adjust export rebates and tariffs to curb exports of resources products and products whose production involves more energy consumption and pollutants emissions, said the Finance Minister.

The government will also encourage export of high value-added products and imports of energy-saving and pollution-reducing equipments, he added.

China has vowed to reduce the energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by 20 percent and major pollutants emissions by ten percent between 2006 and 2010.

Its energy consumption per unit of GDP dropped three percent year-on-year in the first three quarters of 2007. Sulfur dioxide emissions fell 1.81 percent and chemical oxygen demand (a measure of water pollution) dropped 0.28 percent in the same period.

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