China faces 'toughest' year since 2000

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-02-01 20:20

BEIJING -- China's government Sunday warned 2009 will be "possibly the toughest year" since the turn of the century in terms of securing economic development and consolidating the "sound development momentum" in agriculture and rural areas.

A security guard (centre) walks past a construction site in the commercial district in Beijing. China's government Sunday warned 2009 will be "possibly the toughest year" since the turn of the century in terms of securing economic development and consolidating the "sound development momentum" in agriculture and rural areas. [Agencies]

The lingering global financial crisis and the slowdown of the world economy had exerted an increasingly negative impact on the Chinese economy, said the first document of the year issued jointly by the State Council and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

"The development of agriculture and rural areas in 2009 is of special significance," it said.

"The biggest potential for boosting domestic demand lies in rural areas; the foundation for securing steady and relative fast economic growth is based upon agriculture; the toughest work of securing and improving people's livelihoods stays with farmers."

The government aims to roll out social security schemes and strengthen the protection of farmers' land rights and migrant rural workers' employment rights.

Millions of rural workers lost their jobs and returned home from coastal provinces, exacerbating the severe unemployment in rural areas.

Ma Jiantang, director of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), estimated at a previous press conference that about 5 percent of the 130 million migrant workers had returned to their homes since late 2008. Other officials said even more migrant workers had gone home.

The document urged local and central government departments to adopt measures to create jobs and increase rural incomes.

Companies were asked to take on more social responsibilities, give rural migrant workers more favorable employment treatment. Flexible employment policies and more training chances were also encouraged.

Meanwhile, local government departments should increase investment to provide favorable tax and fee policies to those who lost jobs in cities and expect to find new work in their hometowns.

The government also urged departments to map out basic endowment insurance measures suitable for rural conditions and migrant workers, to ensure their rights. However, it failed to give more details.

Agriculture remains the weakest link in the Chinese economy, which has seen a widening gap between cities and the countryside.

In the document, the sixth of its kind to address rural problems, the government urged authorities to take resolute measures to avoid declining grain production and to ensure the steady expansion of agriculture and rural stability.