{"id":1638,"date":"2009-06-24T16:04:29","date_gmt":"2009-06-24T20:04:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/eldercare\/?p=1638"},"modified":"2012-10-14T16:06:37","modified_gmt":"2012-10-14T20:06:37","slug":"china-to-start-trial-rural-pension-system-to-boost-consumption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/eldercare\/2009\/06\/24\/china-to-start-trial-rural-pension-system-to-boost-consumption\/","title":{"rendered":"China to Start Trial Rural Pension System to Boost Consumption"},"content":{"rendered":"

June 24 (Bloomberg) 2009<\/a><\/p>\n

— China, home to 700 million rural residents, approved a pilot pension program as the government tries to encourage farmers to spend more to help revive economic growth.<\/p>\n

The new system, which aims to cover 10 percent of rural counties this year, will help narrow a wealth gap with cities and spur domestic demand, according to a statement today from the State Council, China\u2019s cabinet.<\/p>\n

China has expanded its social safety net to reduce precautionary saving by citizens planning for ill health and old age. Premier Wen Jiabao has pledged to boost domestic consumption to help the world\u2019s third-biggest economy recover from its deepest slump in a decade and lessen dependence on exports and investment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe rural pension system has been almost non-existent,\u201d said Kevin Lai, an economist with Daiwa Institute of Research in Hong Kong. \u201cOnce you build a stronger social safety net, people will be more inclined to spend without having to worry about the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

The government in late January also announced it would spend 850 billion yuan ($124 billion) over three years to ensure that at least 90 percent of its 1.3 billion citizens have basic health insurance by 2011.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s economy grew 6.1 percent in the first quarter, the slowest pace in almost a decade.<\/p>\n

–Kevin Hamlin and Dune Lawrence, with assistance from Zhang Dingmin. Editors: Neil Denslow, Matthew Brooker<\/p>\n

To contact the reporters on this story: Kevin Hamlin in Beijing at khamlin@bloomberg.net, Dune Lawrence in Beijing at dlawrence6@bloomberg.net<\/p>\n

To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Liu at jliu42@bloomberg.net<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

June 24 (Bloomberg) 2009 — China, home to 700 million rural residents, approved a pilot pension program as the government tries to encourage farmers to spend more to help revive economic growth. The new system, which aims to cover 10 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":295,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40877,43385,43305],"tags":[97076],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/eldercare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1638"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/eldercare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/eldercare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/eldercare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/295"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/eldercare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1638"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/eldercare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1641,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/eldercare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1638\/revisions\/1641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/eldercare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/eldercare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/eldercare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}