Central agricultural infrastructure investment exceeded 1 trillion yuan during the 12th Five-Year Plan period

    Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, November 2 (Reporter Lin Hui) Zhang Baowen, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, said on the 2nd that during the “12th Five-Year Plan” period, the central government allocated more than 1 trillion yuan for agricultural infrastructure investment.

    When Zhang Baowen reported to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on the 2nd on the law enforcement inspection of the Agricultural Law, he said that governments at all levels increased investment in supporting agriculture in accordance with the provisions of the Agricultural Law. From 2010 to 2014, national general public budget expenditures on agriculture, forestry and water affairs totaled 57272 billion yuan, with an average annual increase of 14.6%. In 2015, the national budget arranged 16953 billion yuan in expenditures on agriculture, forestry and water affairs, an increase of 11.4% over the previous year. During the “12th Five-Year Plan” period, the central government allocated 10790 billion yuan for agricultural infrastructure investment, an increase of 4990 billion yuan over the “11th Five-Year Plan” period.

    Zhang Baowen introduced that in recent years, China's agriculture-related credit supply has continued to increase. In 2014, the balance of agriculture-related loans of banking financial institutions was 23.6 trillion yuan, accounting for 28.1% of all loans, a year-on-year increase of 13%. At the end of August 2015, the balance of agriculture-related loans of banking financial institutions was 25.3 trillion yuan.

    Zhang Baowen also introduced that the coverage of China's agricultural insurance services has gradually expanded, with 11.7 billion mu of insured crops and 2.47 billion farmer households participating in insurance. The capital market began to serve modern agriculture. At present, a total of 58 agricultural enterprises have raised 715 billion yuan in the A-share market, and 226 agriculture-related enterprises have issued 8380 billion yuan of debt financing instruments in the interbank bond market.