How can the building of a rural inclusive finance system be advanced?

Rural inclusive finance refers to the system and methods capable of providing the broad rural population with low-cost, highly efficient and modern financial services. In a narrow sense, this inclusiveness should include not only the physical and tangible service outlets, service products and service methods provided by financial service institutions, but also the awakening of rural residents' financial concepts, the enrichment of their financial knowledge, the broadening of their financial investment channels, and the opening up of property insurance avenues, and so on.

From the current reality of rural inclusive finance, there are still many obstacles to providing inclusive financial services to the broad rural population, and these obstacles are mainly reflected in six aspects: First, the vast rural townships have not yet formed a complete financial organizational system for providing farmers with inclusive financial services, the strength of financial services is too weak, and inclusive finance is by no means the work of a single day. Second, rural residents generally have a low level of education and little understanding of financial knowledge, and it is relatively difficult for them to absorb financial service knowledge, master service skills and operate financial service tools. Third, the dispersed living environment formed at the current stage for historical reasons, under the influence of factors such as poor transportation and blocked information, brings practical obstacles to the promotion of inclusive finance, and advancing inclusive finance requires long-term efforts. Fourth, the government and the financial sector are absent in guiding and cultivating rural residents' credit, farmers' credit awareness is still in its infancy, their sense of integrity is not strong, and the rural credit environment is relatively poor, which brings resistance to the promotion of inclusive finance. Fifth, agricultural production is severely affected by natural disasters, the prices of agricultural products fluctuate greatly in the market, the comparative efficiency of the agricultural industry is low, and it belongs to a weak-quality industry, so agricultural financial institutions lack the initiative to promote inclusive financial measures such as agricultural insurance and preferential credit. Sixth, national fiscal input is insufficient, and placing the heavy responsibility of inclusive finance solely on small and medium-sized agricultural financial institutions will cause the promotion of inclusive finance to lack staying power, and may also cause agricultural financial institutions to pay huge costs or even lose money for inclusive finance, facing relatively large market risks.

Therefore, promoting rural inclusive finance is a social systematic project; a single move affects the whole body. It requires overall consideration, scientific and systematic design, and gradual progress. It cannot be accomplished overnight, still less by rushing ahead rashly. From the current perspective, efforts should be made in six aspects:

First, carry out top-level institutional design for financial organizations and institutions in rural areas, and consolidate the foundation of inclusive finance. Either strip out the business of county-level rural small and medium-sized financial institutions, realize separate management and accounting of policy-based financial business and commercial financial business, with fiscal subsidies for policy-based business; or learn from foreign countries by transforming county-level Agricultural Development Banks or rural credit cooperatives into policy-based financial institutions dedicated to rural inclusive financial services; or re-establish policy-based agricultural banks and insurance institutions specifically providing inclusive financial services.

Second, implement a financial education and guidance project for residents in rural areas, and open the door to inclusive finance. Incorporate rural residents' financial education into the scope of government performance assessment, with the government and the financial sector joining hands to strengthen financial knowledge training for existing rural residents through multiple channels and enhance their awareness of financial prevention; or incorporate financial knowledge into the national education sequence, offering financial education courses starting from primary school, and through long-term efforts comprehensively improve the current situation of rural residents' poor financial knowledge, opening the door to inclusive financial services for all.

Third, combine the building of a new countryside and the merging of natural villages to create opportunities for inclusive finance. In conjunction with the building of a new countryside, on the basis of farmers' voluntariness, carry out the merging of natural villages, realize the gradual concentrated living of rural residents, comprehensively reduce the cost of inclusive finance, and create opportunities for financial institutions to implement inclusive finance. At the same time, accelerate the implementation of supporting reforms for the “three rights” of rural land, increase farmers' property income from land, and solidify the foundation for implementing inclusive finance.

Fourth, vigorously promote the integrity-building project, and fortify the dike of inclusive finance. On the basis of the existing construction of credit townships, villages and households, comprehensively advance projects such as rural residents' information registration, system networking and information records, guide farmers to hold firmly to the bottom line of integrity and morality, and eliminate the worries of rural small and medium-sized financial institutions after implementing inclusive finance.

Fifth, establish and improve the agricultural product reserve system and the market production information network, and provide the substance of inclusive finance. Through this, eliminate farmers' blindness in production, realize effective connection between production and the market, avoid production waste and reduce production losses; at the same time, the state implements protective price purchasing for important rural products such as grain, cotton and oil, and establishes a reserve system, carrying out reverse adjustment of products when the market fluctuates, stabilizing market prices, breaking the strange cycle of agricultural product prices, enabling farmers to reduce market risks and thereby effectively increase income, and providing strength for financial institutions to implement inclusive finance.

Sixth, increase fiscal input to agricultural financial institutions, and activate the power of inclusive finance. The government should use “real gold and silver” to build a solid guarantee system for banks, insurance and other financial institutions, set up various types of risk compensation funds, effectively mobilize the enthusiasm and creativity of financial institutions in implementing inclusive finance, and thereby stimulate the infinite vitality of inclusive finance.