BEIJING, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- China has allocated a total of 124.4 billion yuan (about 18.8 billion U.S. dollars) from the central budget and lottery proceeds as subsidies to improve people's livelihood in the coming year, authorities said Thursday.
Of the total, 92.86 billion yuan will be used to support people facing financial difficulties, according to a document released by the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.
Another 10.79 billion yuan will used to pay for medical treatment of patients who are in critical condition but can not be immediately identified or can not afford treatment, while 18.59 billion yuan will be used to finance renovation of unsafe homes in rural area and 2.1 billion yuan to help the disabled.
Local governments were demanded to spend the budget faster and improve the efficiency of fund use.
The Chinese government has set poverty reduction as one of its top priorities in recent years. The government vows to lift people living below the poverty line out of poverty by 2020 when the country will complete the building of a moderately prosperous society.
