The Ministry of Finance insists on giving priority to science and technology as a key area of financial expenditure
Our reporter Ouyang Jianhuan
China Securities News reporter learned from the Ministry of Finance on May 21 that as of the first ten days of April, more than 80% of the central government's transfer payments to local governments had been issued, and in general transfer payments and transfer payments of common financial authority, all eligible project funds had been issued. At the same time, the Ministry of Finance insists on giving priority to science and technology as a key area of financial expenditure, highlighting the key support areas, and improving the efficiency of science and technology investment.
Ensure the standardized and safe use of financial funds
The Report on the Implementation of Central and Local Budgets in 2023 and the Draft of Central and Local Budgets in 2024 proposes to optimize transfer payments to local governments and strengthen local financial security. The central government maintained a certain scale of local transfer payments, arranged 10203.7 billion yuan, and increased by 4.1% on the same caliber after excluding the one-time factors of last year and this year.
The reporter learned that after the National People's Congress approved the central budget for 2024, the Ministry of Finance organized the budget approval work in a timely manner. As of the first ten days of April, the central government had issued 8.68 trillion yuan of local transfer payments, accounting for 85.1% of the budget at the beginning of the year; In the general transfer payment and the transfer payment of common financial authority, all qualified project funds have been released.
In terms of strengthening the constraints on budget implementation, the relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Finance said that the budget approved by the National People's Congress would be strictly implemented, and the first budget was followed by expenditure. It was strictly prohibited to spend without budget or beyond the budget, and strictly control the introduction of new spending increase policies and budget additions in the implementation. Adhere to the tight schedule of the Party and government organs, strengthen the budget management of the three official expenses, and strictly control general expenditures. Strengthen departmental budget management, improve project life cycle management, strengthen project review, and comprehensively promote the construction of expenditure standard system. Strengthen performance operation monitoring, strengthen the application of monitoring results, and promote budget performance management to improve quality and efficiency. Improve the integrated budget management system to ensure the standardized and safe use of financial funds.
At the same time, the progress of fiscal expenditure has also been reasonably accelerated, which reflects the positive fiscal policy of advancing, improving quality and efficiency. According to the data released by the Ministry of Finance recently, from January to April, the national general public budget expenditure was 8948.3 billion yuan, up 3.5% year on year, 0.6 percentage points higher than that of the first quarter. The national general public budget expenditure completed 31.3% of the budget, higher than the average level in recent three years.
Accelerate the implementation of major national science and technology projects
Full support for leading industrial innovation with scientific and technological innovation is an important direction of fiscal policy this year.
According to the above person in charge, the Ministry of Finance insists on giving priority to science and technology as a key area of financial expenditure, and increases investment in science and technology. In 2024, the central government's science and technology budget will be 370.83 billion yuan, an increase of 10% over the previous year. We will strengthen the overall planning of scientific and technological tasks and funding, adjust and optimize the expenditure structure, highlight the key points of support, and strengthen performance management.
Specifically, the first is to support and strengthen basic research. We will increase investment in basic research, applied basic research and cutting-edge research. In 2024, the central government will spend 98 billion yuan on basic research, an increase of 13.1%, to support the improvement of original innovation capabilities. Second, we will support the accelerated implementation of major national science and technology projects. We will make every effort to ensure that we win the battle against key core technologies, support the layout and implementation of a number of major national science and technology projects, and speed up our efforts to seize the commanding heights of science and technology. Third, support the strengthening of national strategic scientific and technological forces. We will strengthen stable support for national strategic scientific and technological forces such as national laboratories, national scientific research institutions, high-level research universities, and focus on supporting the cultivation of more strategic scientists, first-class scientific and technological leaders, innovative teams, and young scientific and technological talents.
Government financing guarantee is an important means and key link to solve the problem of difficult and expensive enterprise financing. In recent years, it has played an active role in supporting small and micro enterprises and "three rural" subjects in financing credit enhancement. The above person in charge said that in order to further implement the innovation driven development strategy and better play the role of the government financing guarantee system, in 2024, the Ministry of Finance plans to implement the special guarantee plan for scientific and technological innovation, and by improving the risk sharing and compensation of the national financing guarantee fund for scientific and technological innovation SMEs, We will guide banks and government financing guarantee institutions at all levels to strengthen financing support for small and medium-sized enterprises engaged in scientific and technological innovation, and leverage more financial resources to invest in scientific and technological innovation.
