China's economy to grow by 9.4 pct this year
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-12-04 19:21

Credit loans to these overheated sectors must be tightly controlled next year, Ma said.

Instead, priority will be given to projects that improve the living standards and working conditions in rural areas, as well as basic education, public health and scientific research, he said.

While preventing excessive investment in overheated sectors, the government also hopes to increase domestic consumption to maintain economic growth.

To do that, Ma said China will raise the income of urban residents, such as increasing public servants' salaries, and hiking the minimum wage for urban residents.

Increasing farmers' income, however, will be more difficult, Ma said, due to falling grain prices and the rising costs of farming material.

Grain prices started to fall from April this year. In October, it was 0.8 percent lower than that of last October, Xinhua said. But the prices of farming materials rose 9.1 percent in October compared with last year.

Ma said China would grant cash subsidies to farmers to buy chemical fertilizer and diesel next year.

The country would also take concrete measures to help farmers raise poultry, he said. Many farmers sustained heavy losses from the mandatory culling of poultry to prevent the spread of bird flu, which has affected 11 provinces.

No target figure for economic growth was announced at the end of the meeting.