BEIJING, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao during an on-line chat with the public Sunday answered questions concerning economic growth targets, housing prices, migrant workers, currency exchange rate reform, health care insurance, and other matters.
The following are some important figures he mentioned during the chat.
-- The government is to set its annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth target for the 2011-2015 period at 7 percent.
-- China plans to build 36 million affordable homes for low-income earners during the next five years.
-- The government aims to reduce energy consumption per unit of GDP by 16 to 17 percent by 2015 from the current levels.
The government set a goal of reducing energy consumption per unit of GDP by around 20 percent from 2005 levels by the end of 2010 and achieved a 19.1-percent decrease.
-- The number of rural migrant workers working in cities stood at 240 million.
-- The real value of the Chinese yuan has gained 53 percent against the U.S. dollar since the mid-1990s, and 22 percent since 2005 when China initiated its exchange rate reform.
-- The wages earned by Chinese farmers working in cities accounted for almost 50 percent of their total incomes.
-- More than 1.2 billion Chinese -- around 89 percent of urban residents and 91 percent of rural people -- are covered by medical insurance schemes.
-- The central government has allocated 12.9 billion yuan to dealing with the ongoing drought in rural areas. North China has been affected by drought since October last year.
-- One precious painting by an ancient artist in 1350 was broken into two in a fire in 1650. The two parts, 51.4 cm and 636.9 cm long respectively, have been stored separately in the Chinese mainland and Taiwan since the late 1940s and will be exhibited together for about four months beginning June in Taiwan. |
