Residents in Karamay, an oil city in the northern part of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, received higher minimum living allowances starting from January 2015, the Karamay Daily reported.

The monthly minimum living allowance for urban residents has been increased to 395 yuan ($63.2) per person from 375 yuan while that of rural areas rose to 234 yuan from 219 yuan.

The increase benefited 1,030 local impoverished households with a total of 1,883 needy people.

This was the ninth increase for urban minimum living allowance and the eighth for the rural one since the State Council implemented the Minimum Standard of Living System since September 1997.

Edited by Mevlut Katik