Reuters AlertNet Lite - China rules out tapping forex reserves for health

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China rules out tapping forex reserves for health

18 Oct 2007 14:24:19 GMT
Source: Reuters

BEIJING, Oct 18 (Reuters) - The Chinese government will not need to tap the country's $1.43 trillion in foreign exchange reserves to fund an ambitious expansion of its health care programme, a senior official said on Thursday.

Money will instead come from increased government investment, Deputy Health Minister Gao Qiang told a news briefing on the sidelines of a Communist Party Congress, without giving details.

China hopes by 2020 to cover all its expected population of 1.5 billion people with basic medical care.

Beijing has been trying to tackle growing public unhappiness with the health care system, which in communism's heyday provided cradle-to-grave coverage, something that has not survived into China's economic reforms.

But Gao, who is also the ministry's Communist Party boss and so technically outranks the minister, said companies will also be expected to help fund the scheme, though also without extrapolating.

"The government will keep raising investment in public medical services, while companies and other institutions will partly pay for the medical needs of their employees. Individuals will also have to pay some money," he said.

"We will gradually increase government investment and lessen the financial burden on the individual," Gao added. "Mainly the government will mobilise financial resources through the budget. We will not need to use the foreign exchange reserves."

China's foreign exchange reserves, the world's largest, swelled to $1.434 trillion in the third quarter.

Economists said the growing stash would generate more pressure for the yuan to appreciate and strengthened the case for the government to permit more capital outflows.

The reserves have ballooned because the central bank, in order to hold down the yuan, buys most of the dollars generated by a growing trade surplus, foreign direct investment and periodic inflows of speculative capital.

The policy is a major irritant in relations with the United States and the European Union.

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Last updated:Thu Oct 18 14:23:56 2007