Ministry of Finance: Implement a more active fiscal policy and increase countercyclical adjustment
The Zhitong Finance App learned that on October 9, the Ministry of Finance released the “Report on the Implementation of China's Fiscal Policy for the First Half of 2026". The report suggests that in the face of more complex changes in the situation and intertwined risks and challenges, the Ministry of Finance will adhere to Xi Jinping's ideology of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, adhere to the general tone of steady progress, fully and accurately implement the new development concept, accelerate the construction of a new development pattern, better coordinate the two major domestic and international situations, coordinate development and security, implement more active fiscal policies, give full play to the effectiveness of various stock policies, and promptly plan and introduce practical incremental policies based on macroeconomic performance, increase countercyclical adjustment efforts, increase countercyclical adjustment efforts, increase countercyclical adjustment efforts, and strengthen efforts to expand domestic demand and optimize supply and Improve people's livelihood, promote continuous economic development in a new direction, and provide a strong guarantee for achieving a good start to the “15th Five-Year Plan”.
The Ministry of Finance will focus on six areas of work. Among them, more active fiscal policies are being implemented vigorously and effectively. Reasonably speed up the disbursement and use of funds, continuously optimize the fiscal expenditure structure, guarantee expenditure in key areas, strengthen fund supervision, and effectively improve the efficiency of the use of funds and the effectiveness of policy implementation. Reasonably speed up the issuance and use of government bonds, better connect project implementation with bond issuance, support the implementation of detailed early planning for key projects, focus on project implementation, and form more physical workload as soon as possible. Special treasury bonds were issued to increase capital to eight central financial enterprises to enhance their ability to operate steadily, withstand risks and serve the real economy.
Support the all-round expansion of domestic demand. Support the promotion of “dual” construction and “two new” tasks, and improve implementation mechanisms. Optimize and implement a package of policies for fiscal and financial coordination to promote domestic demand, improve working mechanisms for departmental collaboration and central local collaboration, and better encourage residents' consumption and leverage private investment. Coordinate the use of funds such as ultra-long-term special treasury bonds, local government special bonds, and investment within the central budget, focus more on key areas such as new quality productivity and new urbanization, invest more in areas that are strategically significant and conducive to increasing total factor productivity, and strongly support the construction of major projects determined in the “15th Five-Year Plan” plan outline.
Deepen financial management reforms. Deeply promote pilot scientific financial management. Promote the steady implementation of zero-based budget reforms, pilot projects to integrate and coordinate the use of transfer funds, standardize tax incentives and financial subsidy policies, and consumption tax reform. Strengthen fiscal expenditure management with stricter standards and more practical measures, and put in place the requirements for the Party and government organs to get used to living too tight. Strengthen financial supervision, carry out in-depth three-year actions to improve the quality and efficiency of financial supervision, strengthen the financial supervision system mechanism, take financial discipline more seriously, and continuously improve the authority and effectiveness of financial supervision.
The original text is as follows:
Report on the implementation of China's fiscal policy for the first half of 2026
Overview
2026 is the beginning of the 15th Five-Year Plan. Faced with the risks and challenges brought about by the complex environment at home and abroad, the Party Central Committee, with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core, strengthened overall leadership of economic work. Departments in all regions insisted on Xi Jinping's ideology of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, comprehensively implemented the spirit of the 20th National Congress and the 20th Plenary Session of the Party, earnestly implemented the Central Economic Work Conference and the “Report on the Work of the Government”, carried out in-depth study and education to establish and implement a correct view of political performance, and implement a more active and promising macroeconomic policy. China's economy is showing a development trend of new momentum and structural excellence. Steady progress. The fiscal policy is more active, precise and effective, and coordination with other policies has been strengthened, and a solid foundation has been laid for achieving a good start to the “15th Five-Year Plan”.
The first is to continue to unleash the potential of domestic demand. This year, the central financial administration made a special arrangement of 100 billion yuan to innovate and launch a package of policies to promote domestic demand through fiscal and financial collaboration, including measures such as interest rates on personal consumption loans, loan interest rates for service business operators, loan interest rates for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, interest rates on equipment renewal loans, special guarantee plans for private investment, and risk sharing mechanisms to support private enterprise bonds to guide investment in key areas of expanding domestic demand. Continue to implement the consumer goods trade-in policy, and adjust and optimize the scope and standards of subsidies. Fifty cities were selected to carry out pilot work on rewarding invoices, driving sales of more than 300 billion yuan in related fields such as catering, lodging, and tourism. Support the development of new consumer formats, new models and new scenarios, deepen the construction of international consumer center cities, and create a more convenient and comfortable consumption environment. Coordinate the use of funds such as ultra-long-term special treasury bonds, special bonds, and investments within the central budget, focus on key areas, and improve the quality and efficiency of investments.
The second is to support stepping up the cultivation and expansion of new momentum. Strengthen the ability to systematize scientific and technological innovation. The central government's science and technology expenditure budget will increase by 10% in 2026, focusing on basic research, applied basic research, and national strategic scientific and technological tasks, and strengthening support for national laboratories, national scientific research institutions, and high-level research universities. Highlight the dominant position of enterprise innovation and promote the construction of a modern industrial system. An ultra-long-term special treasury bond fund of 200 billion yuan was issued to support equipment upgrades for more than 11,000 projects in 22 fields. A pilot project was launched to transform cities with new manufacturing technologies, and 30 additional cities were included in the scope of the pilot. A new batch of more than 1,500 “little giant” enterprises will be included in the scope of the specialized, special and new reward policy. Twenty cities were included in the third batch of pilot cities for modern commercial and trade circulation systems, and 10 cities were included in the scope of the first batch of support for the new round of national integrated freight hub chain repair and upgrading actions. Promote and standardize preferential tax policies and financial subsidy policies, and accelerate the construction of a unified national market for services. Deeply carry out special rectification of illegal and irregularities in the field of government procurement, and strengthen the supervision of electronic stores.
The third is to increase efforts to protect and improve people's livelihood. Continue to implement phased measures such as social security subsidies and job stabilization and return to promote employment for key groups such as college graduates. Improve the quality of education public services, optimize the basic education expenditure structure, support the improvement of the ability to run vocational education, and fully implement student financial aid policies. Continue to raise the per capita financial subsidy standard for health insurance for urban and rural residents, support the implementation of strong medical and health care infrastructure projects, and speed up the establishment of a long-term care insurance system. The central financial administration continues to increase pension insurance fund subsidies to support local basic pensions to be paid in full and on time. Fully implement the childcare allowance system, distribute consumption allowances for old-age services to moderately disabled elderly people, and provide financial guarantees such as assistance and support for subsistence allowances and special hardship cases, and special care and placement for veterans. Improve disaster prevention, mitigation and relief capabilities, promptly activate the central government's rapid disbursement mechanism for disaster relief funds, and respond effectively to earthquakes, typhoons, floods and geological disasters.
Fourth, promote rural-urban integration and regional linkage. Strengthen the overall integration of agriculture-related transfers, and promote high-standard farmland construction and black land protection. The central government issued 177 billion yuan in normalized support funds to support industrial aid, employment support, and development assistance in underdeveloped regions. Promote a new type of people-centered urbanization and improve the system for providing basic public services in places of permanent residence. Firmly push forward the implementation of major regional strategies and coordinated regional development strategies, and comprehensively apply policies such as incentive funds to promote high-quality development to guide all regions to develop their comparative advantages.
The fifth is to promote a green and low-carbon transition. Introduce pilot implementation measures for levying environmental protection taxes on volatile organic compounds. Deepen the construction of compensation mechanisms for horizontal ecological protection in watersheds. To strengthen the comprehensive management of the ecological environment, the central financial administration issued 61.8 billion yuan in subsidy funds to fully guarantee the fight to defend the blue sky, blue water, and pure land. Initiate and implement 9 cross-provincial “landscape projects”, and continue to support the “Three North” project offensive battles. Actively and steadily promote carbon neutrality when carbon peaks reach peak levels, and promote the adjustment and optimization of the energy structure.
The sixth is to effectively prevent and mitigate risks in key areas. Supervise and guide all regions to make good use of centralized debt support policies to speed up the resolution of existing hidden debts. Deepen cross-departmental regulatory collaboration, and seriously hold them accountable for acts such as adding hidden debts and falsifying debts. Promote consolidated supervision of hidden debt and statutory debt, and strengthen full-caliber local debt monitoring. Promote the reform and transformation of local government financing platforms. The central government arranged 10.42 trillion yuan for local transfers at the beginning of the year, and 9.4 trillion yuan was already issued in the first half of the year. Strengthen monitoring of local financial operations and firmly establish the bottom line of the “Three Guarantees” at the grassroots level.
The seventh is to deepen fiscal reform and management. Strengthen supporting links to ensure the smooth implementation of the Value-added Tax Law and its implementing regulations. Improve the local tax system and steadily push forward local additional tax legislation. Improve the financial transfer system and launch a pilot project to integrate and coordinate the use of transfer funds. Guide local authorities to push forward financial system reforms below the provincial level. Further promote pilot financial science management, and continue to raise the level of systematization, refinement, standardization and rule of law in financial management. Strengthen financial supervision and launch a three-year action to improve the quality and efficiency of financial supervision. Insist on saving money, and effectively use financial resources for urgent development needs and critical areas of people's livelihood.
1. The financial operation is steady and improving, and the budget execution is good
In the first half of the year, China's economy moved forward tenaciously, steadily and progressed, laying the foundation for the smooth operation of finance. Financial departments at all levels have strengthened the coordination of financial resources, and overall spending has remained ahead of schedule, and key areas have been better guaranteed.
(1) Fiscal revenue grew steadily, and the cumulative increase continued to rise.
In the first half of the year, the country's general public budget revenue was 12.1 trillion yuan, an increase of 4.7% over the previous year, showing an overall stable and positive development trend. Mainly, China's economy is resilient and full of vitality. At the same time, factors such as rising prices, active stock markets, and strong growth in foreign trade also strongly supported fiscal revenue growth.
First, tax revenue is growing steadily. In the first half of the year, the country's tax revenue was 9.79 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.3%, an increase of 3.1 percentage points over the first quarter. In terms of tax classification, domestic value-added tax increased by 6%, mainly driven by continued growth in industry and services and rising ex-factory prices for industrial producers; the increase in value-added tax and consumption tax on imported goods was 11.8%, mainly a relatively rapid increase in foreign trade imports; corporate income tax increased by 3.9%, mainly an increase in corporate profits; stamp duty on securities transactions increased by 97.3%, mainly an increase in stock market turnover; 1.34 trillion yuan was refunded from the previous year, an increase of 5.4%, to support the growth of foreign trade exports.
Second, there was a slight increase in non-tax revenue. In the first half of the year, the country's non-tax revenue was 2.32 trillion yuan, an increase of 2.3% over the previous year. Among them, revenue from paid use of state-owned resources (assets) increased by 3.5%, mainly from mining rights concessions, etc.; revenue from administrative fees fell by 4.4%, mainly from the fall semester of 2025, to exempt public kindergartens from childcare and education fees for the first year of preschool.
Third, revenue has continued to grow in most regions. In the first half of the year, local general public budget revenue was 6.88 trillion yuan, up 2.7% year on year, and 0.6 percentage points higher than in the first quarter. Looking at the subregions, income in the eastern, central, western, and northeastern regions all continued to grow. Of the 31 provinces, revenue increased in 28 provinces, 3 more than in the first quarter.
(2) Fiscal expenditure continues to grow, and expenditure in key areas is better guaranteed.
In the first half of the year, the national general public budget spent 14.33 trillion yuan, an increase of 1.5% over the previous year, and an increase of 0.7 percentage points over January-May. Among them, the central government's general public budget expenditure at this level was 2.12 trillion yuan, an increase of 6.5%, maintaining a high intensity; local general public budget expenditure was 12.21 trillion yuan, an increase of 0.6%, and the cumulative increase changed from negative to positive. Among the country's main expenditure areas, health expenditure was 1.22 trillion yuan, an increase of 10.8%, mainly an increase in childcare allowances and financial subsidies to basic medical insurance funds; social security and employment expenses of 2.64 trillion yuan, an increase of 7.6%; and housing security expenditure of 43.9 billion yuan, an increase of 6.1%.
(3) Pay close attention to budget execution, release financial resources as soon as possible, and achieve results as soon as possible.
Strictly implement the requirements of the Budget Law, prepare for budget issuance in advance, promptly approve and issue budgets in accordance with the budget approved by the National People's Congress, promote faster implementation of funds to specific units and projects, and create favorable conditions for the use of funds. At the central level, budget approval for all central departments was completed by the end of March; in terms of transfers from the central government to local authorities, the first half of the year had already issued 9.4 trillion yuan, accounting for 90.3% of the budget at the beginning of the year, an increase of 0.5 percentage points over the same period last year.
2. Firmly implement the strategy to expand domestic demand and effectively improve the quality and efficiency of the national economic cycle
Conscientiously implement the strategy to expand domestic demand, make concerted efforts from both supply and demand sides, and play a series of “combo punches” to promote healthy interaction between consumption and investment, and play a better role as the driving force and stabilizing anchor of domestic demand.
(1) Stronger efforts to boost consumption and continuously unleash the advantages of China's hyperscale market.
The first is to continue implementing the consumer goods trade-in policy. In 2026, the central financial administration will allocate 250 billion yuan of ultra-long-term special treasury bonds to support the trade-in of consumer goods, and continuously optimize the scope of support and subsidy standards. In the first half of the year, a total capital of 125 billion yuan was issued in two batches, driving sales of related products exceeding 1.1 trillion yuan, benefiting 150 million people, and strongly unleashing consumption potential. Among them, cars were traded in at 3.707 million units, driving the NEV retail market penetration rate to a record high of 62.4% in the second quarter; 63.266 million units of home appliances were traded in; 79.98 million new digital products such as mobile phones were purchased; and 19 regions implemented their own category subsidy policies, driving sales of 992,000 units of related products.
The second is to strengthen fiscal and financial coordination to drive consumption. Both supply and demand sides target consumer consumption and service industry operators to stimulate consumption vitality. On the supply side, the loan interest rate discount policy for service industry operators has been optimized, and the upper limit of interest rate discount loan amounts for single households has been raised from 1 million yuan to 10 million yuan, benefiting the consumer sector; on the demand side, the personal consumer loan interest rate discount policy has been optimally implemented, and consumer interest rates for residents using personal consumption loans from loan management agencies have been discounted by 1 percentage point, and credit card bill installments have been included in the scope of interest rate discounts, and sector restrictions have been lifted. From January to June, the total number of new loans issued in related fields exceeded 17 trillion yuan, an increase of 4.6% over the previous year. About 99 million people enjoyed interest rate dividends.
The third is to accelerate two pilot projects to promote new consumption formats, new models, new scenarios, and the construction of an international consumption environment. In terms of new consumption formats, new models, and new scenarios, the first batch of capital of 8.6 billion yuan has been issued, focusing on supporting the three directions of the initial economy, service consumption, and “IP+ consumption”, and cultivating new momentum for consumer development by creating a number of new consumption scenarios that drive a wide range of areas and high visibility. In terms of building an international consumer environment, the first batch of capital of 1 billion yuan has been issued, focusing on enriching the supply of high-quality consumption, improving the level of convenient services such as payment and language, creating a more convenient and comfortable consumer environment, and attracting more inbound consumption. The results of the pilot construction are showing initial results, and a number of highlight projects involving multiple forms of commerce, cultural tourism, sports, health, culture and creativity have sprung up in various regions.
Fourth, support the development of pilot work on prize invoices. A capital of 10 billion yuan was issued to support 50 cities to carry out pilot work, covering major daily consumption scenarios closely related to residents' “clothing, food, lodging, lifestyle services, etc.” to stimulate residents' consumption needs. In the first half of the year, 50 pilot cities paid out 7.72 billion yuan in prize money (including bonuses already won and payable). A total of 750 million people participated in the event, and 330 million people won the lottery.
(2) Drive the expansion of effective investment and enable high-quality economic development.
The first is to continue to allocate funds for ultra-long-term special treasury bonds to be used for “dual” construction. In the first half of the year, 606.46 billion yuan of ultra-long-term special treasury bond funds were issued for security capacity building in major national strategies and key areas to promote 936 major projects to establish physical workload as soon as possible. Strengthen the full-process management of “dual” funding, optimize the fund disbursement process, establish a project review mechanism, and achieve performance targets simultaneously with the project budget.
The second is to actively guide local authorities to speed up the issuance of special bonds. Local government special debt limits of 4.4 trillion yuan were added. In the first half of the year, various regions issued a total of 2.07 trillion yuan of new special bonds to support more than 17,000 construction projects, of which more than 170 billion yuan was used as project capital, making better use of the leveraging role of government investment “four, two allocations”.
Third, fiscal and financial coordination are linked to promote private investment. Implement an interest rate discount policy for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, and fixed asset loans to micro, small and medium-sized private enterprises in key industrial chains and upstream and downstream industries, productive services, agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and side fishing, etc., with an interest rate discount of 1.5 percentage points for no more than 2 years. The maximum interest-rate loan amount for a single household is 50 million yuan. Set up a special guarantee plan for private investment to provide guarantees for medium- and long-term loans to eligible micro, small and medium-sized private enterprises. The maximum credit guarantee amount for a single household is 20 million yuan. Establish a risk sharing mechanism to support private enterprise bonds to provide credit enhancement support for private enterprises and private equity investment institutions to issue bonds. Optimize the implementation of the interest rate discount policy for equipment renewal loans, and provide 1.5 percentage points of interest rate discount support for no more than 2 years for fixed asset loans related to equipment renewal and eligible science and technology innovation loans.
Fourth, improve the efficiency of the use of investment funds within the central budget. In 2026, an investment of 755 billion yuan was planned within the central budget, an increase of 20 billion yuan over the previous year, focusing on supporting the construction of modern industrial systems, modern infrastructure systems, new urbanization and comprehensive rural revitalization, green development, social livelihood, and emergency disaster relief. Improve investment management coordination mechanisms within the central budget, and strengthen the link between investment plans and budget issuance. In the first half of the year, a total of 430,094 billion yuan was invested within the central budget.
(3) Actively expand independent openness and strengthen domestic and international dual cycles to promote mutual development.
The first is to actively develop international economic and trade cooperation. This year, on the basis of implementing “zero tariffs” for all least developed countries that have established diplomatic relations with China, 20 African countries that have established diplomatic relations with non-least developed countries will be implemented with zero tariffs for a period of 2 years, while actively promoting the signing of cooperative economic partnership agreements with relevant countries. Since April 1, the agreed tax rate will be implemented for imported goods originating in the Congo (Brazzaville) in accordance with the early harvest arrangement of the Joint Economic Development Partnership Agreement signed between me and the Congo (Brazzaville).
The second is to improve import tax policies such as tariffs. Organize and implement the 2026 tariff adjustment plan, implement a provisional import tariff rate lower than the MFN rate for 935 items, enhance the linkage effect of the two resources in the domestic and international markets, and expand the supply of high-quality goods. Actively support the development of scientific and technological undertakings, the introduction of good agricultural varieties, the development and utilization of energy resources, strengthen guarantees in key areas, and promote open cooperation with the outside world.
The third is to support the construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port. “Zero tariffs” have been implemented on some imported goods consumed by residents of the Hainan Free Trade Port. The tax exemption limit is 10,000 yuan per person per year, with no limit on the number of purchases, promoting the results of the construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port to benefit the islanders even more.
Fourth, facilitate and expand inbound consumption. Strengthen efforts to optimize departure tax refund measures, implement facilitation measures such as paperless processing of departure tax refunds, and implementing a “small sampling system” for application forms with tax refund sales of 10,000 yuan or less, to continue to increase the appeal of “buying in China.” At 20 airport ports including Wuhan Tianhe International Airport, and 21 water and land ports, including Xiamen Wutong Passenger Terminal and Shenzhen Bay, a new port entry duty free shop has been set up to facilitate duty-free shopping and consumption for inbound travelers.
3. Adhere to innovation-driven development and promote the cultivation and growth of new momentum
Deeply implement innovation-driven development strategies, promote the deep integration of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation, promote the integration of the innovation chain in the industrial chain, and continuously spawn new quality productivity.
(1) Support self-reliance and self-improvement in high-level science and technology, and continuously improve independent innovation capabilities.
First, investment in basic research continues to increase. Central financial investment in basic research was increased. In 2026, the central government's basic research expenditure increased by 16.3% over the previous year. Improve the basic research investment mechanism combining competitive support and stable support, and guide and encourage the whole society to increase investment in basic research.
Second, major national science and technology projects continue to be implemented. Aim at the country's major strategic needs and industrial development needs, strengthen the guarantee of scientific and technological resources, support the layout and implementation of a number of strategic, global, forward-looking national science and technology projects, and continue to push forward key core technology research.
Third, the country's strategic scientific and technological strength has been further strengthened. Actively support the construction and development of national laboratories and national key laboratories, increase stable support for central scientific research institutes and universities, support the cultivation and expansion of leading scientific and technological enterprises, and support the all-round cultivation, introduction and use of scientific and technological talents.
Fourth, the management of science and technology funds has been continuously improved. Continue to improve the central financial administration's mechanism for allocating, managing and using science and technology funds, strengthen performance management throughout the process, strengthen and improve supervision and inspection, and improve the efficiency of the use of funds.
Fifth, the construction of a regional science and technology innovation system is effectively promoted. Optimize fiscal policy supply, support the high-level construction of international science and technology innovation centers in Beijing (Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei), Shanghai (Yangtze River Delta), and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. At the same time, guide and motivate all regions to increase scientific and technological investment and factor guarantees based on their own endowment conditions, and accelerate the construction of unique regional innovation and development highlands.
Sixth, the shortfall in the supply of popular science resources is being filled up quickly. Support channels have been broadened, and a new Central Lottery Community Chest project has been set up to support the construction of 204 township science centers in key counties, Xinjiang, Tibet and other regions based on existing site resources and conditions.
(2) Guide industrial transformation and upgrading, and steadily advance the construction of a modern industrial system.
The first is to support the high-quality development of small and medium-sized enterprises. Organize and carry out a new round of the third batch of specialized, special and new reward policies to encourage enterprises to increase investment in scientific and technological innovation, support more than 1,500 “little giant” enterprises to build new momentum, attack new technologies, develop new products, and strengthen the supporting capabilities of the industrial chain. Organize and carry out the final performance evaluation of the first batch of SME digital transformation city pilots to encourage and guide local governments to increase their support and continue to promote the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises.
The second is to effectively play the role of government investment funds in promoting industrial upgrading, innovation and entrepreneurship. Through the National Manufacturing Transformation and Upgrading Fund, the National SME Development Fund, and the National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund, etc., we will guide and drive social capital to focus on new materials, artificial intelligence, etc., and increase support for “stuck necks”. Promote the establishment of the second phase of the National Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund, launch the investment and operation of the National Venture Capital Guidance Fund, and support the development of strategic emerging industries and future industries.
The third is to continue to promote the upgrading of key industries. In the first half of the year, the third batch of pilot projects for new manufacturing technology reform cities was launched, and 30 cities, including Nanjing and Zhuhai, were selected and supported to carry out pilot projects, and 4.5 billion yuan in incentives were issued to relevant cities to drive enterprises to carry out equipment updates, process upgrades, digital empowerment, and management innovation, and raise the level of intelligent, green and integrated development of the manufacturing industry.
(3) Promote the deep integration of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation, and accelerate the development of new quality productivity.
The first is to implement tax support policies for enterprise science and technology innovation. In recent years, tax support for scientific and technological innovation has continued to be increased, and a preferential tax policy system has been established with wide coverage, strong incentives, and covering all aspects of the entire enterprise innovation process. In the first half of the year, the current major policies supporting scientific and technological innovation and manufacturing development policies reduced taxes, fees, and tax rebates of 1.91 trillion yuan played an important role in stimulating enterprise innovation vitality, consolidating the foundation for technological self-reliance and self-improvement, and cultivating and expanding new momentum.
The second is to speed up the efficient transformation and application of major scientific and technological achievements. Implement the first (set) major technical equipment and the first batch of new material insurance compensation policies, support the iterative update and promotion and application of the first (set) of major technical equipment and the first batch of new material innovation products, and help transform scientific and technological innovation achievements into actual productivity.
The third is to give full play to the role of a government financing guarantee system. Organize and implement special guarantee plans for scientific and technological innovation, increase risk sharing and compensation for science and technology innovation small and medium-sized enterprises, and effectively reduce financing thresholds and costs. In the first half of the year, more than 60,000 science and technology innovation SMEs were supported to successfully obtain bank loans of more than 290 billion yuan.
4. Promote new urbanization and comprehensive rural revitalization in an integrated manner, and take new steps in the coordinated development of urban and rural regions
Actively play the role of finance, consolidate the foundation of food security in all aspects, support the construction of livable and workable villages in the US, promote a new type of people-centered urbanization, thoroughly implement regional development strategies, and effectively promote urban-rural integration and regional linkage.
(1) Ensure a stable and safe supply of food and important agricultural products.
The first is to promote the protection and quality improvement of arable land. The central financial administration allocated 121,485 billion yuan to steadily implement the arable land strength protection subsidy policy and motivate farmers to grow food. Arrange 397 billion yuan for arable land construction and utilization, and 105.049 billion yuan for ultra-long-term special treasury bonds to support the construction, renovation and upgrading of 61.08 million mu of high-standard farmland. Steadily implement the Northeast Black Land Conservation Farming Action Plan to strengthen the protection and utilization of black land. Promote crop rotation and fallow cultivation of arable land and promote the sustainable use of arable land resources.
The second is to strengthen agricultural science, technology and equipment support. The central financial administration has allocated 16.25 billion yuan in subsidies for the purchase and application of agricultural machinery, focusing on supporting the promotion and application of agricultural machinery such as high-performance planters, intelligent high-speed rice transplanters, and large-scale intelligent high-end combined harvesting machinery to speed up the completion of shortcomings in agricultural machinery equipment. A capital of 1,264 billion yuan was allocated to support the revitalization of the seed industry, promote the protection and utilization of agricultural germplasm resources, implement production performance measurements for livestock and poultry, and promote the integrated development of R&D, promotion and application of major varieties. China's independent crop breeding area exceeds 95%, and the market share of domestic seed sources for vegetables, livestock, poultry, and aquatic products has exceeded 91%, 80%, and 86%, respectively.
The third is to reasonably guarantee the income of farmers who grow grain. Improve the “trinity” policy system for prices, subsidies, and insurance. Improve the income guarantee mechanism for farmers growing grain, and implement the minimum purchase price policy for rice and wheat. Steady implementation of corn and soybean producer subsidies and rice subsidy policies to guarantee the basic income of farmers growing grain. In 2026, the central financial administration arranged 54.6 billion yuan in agricultural insurance premiums. In the first half of the year, the scale of agricultural insurance premiums in China exceeded 108 billion yuan, providing 3.3 trillion yuan of risk protection for more than 77 million secondary farmers.
Fourth, support stable production and supply of important agricultural products. Support the promotion of good breeding techniques for sugar cane and natural rubber, and accelerate the quality and efficiency of livestock and poultry farming and high-quality fishery development. Implement actions such as green, high yield and efficiency of key crops such as grain and oil, and increasing the yield of large-scale grain and oil growers, implement subsidies for compound planting of soybeans and corn, and promote large-scale yield increases in grain and oil crops. In the first half of the year, the country's pork, beef, lamb and poultry production reached 50.5 million tons, an increase of 4.3% year on year, while domestic production of aquatic products was 35.12 million tons, up 4.4% year on year.
The fifth is to promote the establishment of a new agricultural management system. The central financial administration allocated 8.2 billion yuan to support the development of agricultural social services, focusing on addressing the mechanized and specialized service needs of small-scale farmers in key and weak areas in the production of important agricultural products such as grain, marshmallow, etc. A capital of 4.3 billion yuan was allocated to implement a compensation policy for agricultural credit guarantee services to promote the alleviation of difficult and expensive financing problems. In the first half of the year, the national agricultural support system added a guarantee amount of 151.81 billion yuan, and additional support for 211,000 new agricultural operators.
The sixth is to support agricultural disaster prevention, mitigation and water relief. Actively responding to disasters such as floods, droughts, and typhoons. In the first half of the year, the central government promptly issued 2,758 billion yuan in agricultural production disaster prevention and water relief funds in batches, strongly supporting the affected regions to speed up the resumption of agricultural production.
The seventh is to improve the benefit compensation mechanism for major grain-producing regions. Implement incentive policies for major grain-producing counties, continue food risk fund policies, ensure that local governments focus on agricultural harvesting at an affordable and sustainable rate, and support local governments to strengthen grain reserves and stabilize the grain market. Implement inter-provincial horizontal benefit compensation for grain production and marketing regions under the coordination of the central government.
(2) Support the implementation of normalized and precise assistance.
The first is to consolidate the guarantee of normalized support investment. Subsidy funds linked to the central financial administration to promote rural revitalization were adjusted to normalized support funds, with an allocation of 177 billion yuan. The scale is the same as the previous year, focusing on supporting industrial assistance, employment support, and development assistance for underdeveloped regions. Strengthen fund supervision and promote safe, compliant, efficient and practical use of funds.
The second is to focus on implementing policies. Highlight the focus of industrial support, strengthen industrial classification guidance and long-term cultivation according to local conditions, promote the development of the entire industry chain, support the improvement of the agricultural cooperation mechanism, and promote the increase in income benefiting farmers. Through cross-provincial employment and transportation allowances, work allowances, public service jobs, etc., priority support is given to stabilizing jobs and employment for those who have previously set up a file card to get out of poverty and those who need continued support to get out of poverty. In the first half of the year, more than 32 million laborers were employed, and the per capita disposable income growth rate of rural residents in poverty-alleviation counties continued to be higher than the national rural average.
The third is to strengthen financial support for old revolutionary regions. The central financial administration arranged a special lottery community fund of 2.6 billion yuan, with additional subsidies to support 53 old revolutionary districts and counties to start construction of rural revitalization projects, as well as the renewal, consolidation and upgrading of projects launched last year, to promote the development of industries with rural characteristics and advantages, improve the living environment, and explore rural revitalization paths with the characteristics of old districts.
(3) The modernization of agriculture and rural areas is being vigorously promoted.
First, speed up the construction of a modern agricultural industry system. Insist on writing articles on rural “souvenirs”, support the standardized construction of industrial integration development projects such as modern agricultural industrial parks, industrial clusters with advantages and characteristics, and strong agricultural towns, and promote the revitalization of rural industries. In the first half of the year, we supported the construction of 49 modern agricultural industrial parks, 40 industrial clusters with advantages and characteristics, and 198 strong agricultural towns.
Second, the protection of agricultural ecological resources has been continuously strengthened. The central government allocated funds of 1.9 billion yuan and 2,627 billion yuan respectively to support the scientific use and recycling of mulching film and the comprehensive utilization of crop straw to promote the resource utilization of agricultural waste. A capital of 17.163 billion yuan was allocated to implement the fourth round of grassland ecological protection subsidy and incentive policies to motivate herders to implement grazing bans and restrictions.
Third, water infrastructure continues to be consolidated. The central financial administration arranged a transfer of 44.773 billion yuan in water conservancy development funds to local authorities to support the improvement of the water conservancy infrastructure system and raise the level of national water safety and security.
Fourth, comprehensive reforms in rural areas are being advanced in depth. Support the implementation of financial reward policies for rural public welfare construction and pilot tests for comprehensive rural reform, continuously improve rural production and living conditions, and explore effective paths for comprehensive rural revitalization.
(4) The construction of a new type of people-centered urbanization is progressing steadily.
The first is to continue to promote the urbanization of agricultural population transfers. In 2026, the central government issued 42 billion yuan in incentive funds for the urbanization of agricultural population transfers, favoring regions with large scale agricultural transfers and high basic public service costs, to support solutions to issues such as children's education, housing security, and social insurance that the agricultural transfer population is most concerned about, and to support the promotion of a new type of people-centered urbanization.
Second, continue to support the implementation of urban renewal actions. Through competitive review, 15 prefecture-level cities, including Jincheng, Anshan, and Changchun, were included in the scope of support. The central financial administration provides fixed subsidies of 800 million yuan, 1 billion yuan, and 1.2 billion yuan for each city in the East, Central, and Western regions, respectively, to support the construction of key model projects and institutions in the shortlisted cities.
The third is to continue the construction of traditional village reserves. The central financial administration will grant the selected counties a fixed amount of subsidies. Through competitive review, 25 counties (cities and districts) will be included in the scope of the first batch of support in 2026 to promote the construction of traditional village characteristic reserves with 5 themes, including Huipai architecture, the Tea Horse (Salt) Trail, Central Plains farming, Hakka Overseas Chinese Village, and Jiangnan Water Town.
(5) Regional development coordination has been further strengthened.
Promote the implementation of major regional strategies and coordinated regional development strategies such as the collaborative development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Province, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the integrated high-quality development of the Yangtze River Delta, high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin, etc., to support all regions to make full use of their comparative advantages and strengths to accelerate high-quality development. Strengthen the central financial guarantee, support the revitalization and development of special types of regions such as frontier regions, old revolutionary regions, and resource-based and energy-based regions, and promote greater coordination of regional development.
5. Safeguard and improve people's livelihood with greater vigor, and people's welfare continues to improve
Insist on safeguarding and improving people's livelihood in high-quality development, do our best and do what we can, keep an eye on the people's urgent concerns, increase investment in manpower, focus on filling up shortcomings in people's livelihood, and tightly weave people's livelihood security networks.
(1) Employment support continues to increase.
The first is to strengthen coordination between fiscal policy and employment policy. To implement the priority employment strategy, the central financial administration issued 66.74 billion yuan in employment subsidy funds to support local authorities in implementing various employment and entrepreneurship support policies. Continue to implement phased policies such as job stabilization and return and expansion of the scope of social insurance benefits to support enterprises to stabilize jobs, expand jobs, and absorb employment. In the first half of the year, 6.95 million new jobs were added in cities and towns across the country. The average unemployment rate in the urban survey was 5.2%, and the overall employment situation remained stable.
The second is to promote employment and entrepreneurship among key groups. Continue to implement policies such as one-time job expansion allowances to guide enterprises and social organizations to recruit youth groups such as university graduates into employment. Strengthen employment assistance for disadvantaged groups such as people with disabilities and family members with zero employment. Promote the steady and orderly expansion of occupational injury protection pilot projects, and strengthen occupational injury protection for people with new forms of employment. Continue to implement the guarantee loan reward policy for entrepreneurship. In 2026, the central financial administration arranged about 7.3 billion yuan in reward capital for guaranteed loans for entrepreneurship, and the national guaranteed loan balance for entrepreneurship exceeded 280 billion yuan in the first half of the year.
The third is to strengthen vocational skills training. Improve the mechanism linking vocational training subsidies to employment results, and strengthen the orientation of training to promote employment. Guide local authorities to coordinate relevant financial resources, support the implementation of the “Skills Illuminate the Future” training campaign, strengthen training efforts for urgently needed occupations (types of work), and cultivate more skilled talents.
Fourth, promote government financing guarantee systems to increase support for entrepreneurship and employment. Further develop the role of government financing guarantee systems in stabilizing employment, create employment contribution indicators, guide the National Finance Guarantee Fund to link employment contributions to credit lines and preferential guarantee fees, and guide more guarantee resources to accurately serve employment. In the first half of the year, the State Finance Guarantee Fund served more than 6.5 million small and micro enterprises and other business entities.
(2) Steady improvement in the fairness and quality of education.
The first is to accelerate the high-quality and balanced development of compulsory education and the integration of urban and rural areas. Subsidies for compulsory education in urban and rural areas amounted to 173,637 billion yuan to consolidate and improve the funding guarantee mechanism for compulsory education in urban and rural areas, and further enhance the portability of education funds. Continue to implement the “Special Job Program” and the Student Nutrition Improvement Plan. A subsidy fund of 29.7 billion yuan was issued to improve weak links in compulsory education and enhance capacity to support the local authorities to continuously improve the basic operating conditions of rural schools, and to expand the net inflow of the college-age population into regional education resources in an orderly manner.
The second is to promote the expansion and improvement of the quality of preschool education and general high schools. Issuing 45.8 billion yuan in funding to support the development of preschool education, supporting local authorities to expand the supply of inclusive preschool education resources in an orderly manner, and implementing the free childcare education fee policy for preschool education, etc. A subsidy fund of 11.7 billion yuan was issued to improve the operating conditions of ordinary high schools to support local implementation plans for ordinary high schools and increase the supply of general high school education resources.
The third is to support the high-quality development of modern vocational education. A capital of 31,257 billion yuan was issued to support all regions to implement differentiated student funding systems for vocational colleges and universities based on major categories of majors, improve operating conditions, support the promotion of general integration of vocational colleges and education, support the implementation of high-level higher vocational schools and professional construction plans with Chinese characteristics, and strengthen “double teacher” teacher training.
Fourth, promote the upgrading of higher education. In 2026, the central government's education expenditure schedule was 192,476 billion yuan, an increase of 5% over the previous year. The focus is on supporting central colleges and universities to accelerate the construction of world-class universities and disciplines with Chinese characteristics, strengthen the training of urgently needed high-level talents and top talents, thoroughly implement breakthroughs in basic disciplines and interdisciplinary subjects, and solidly promote the expansion of high-quality undergraduate programs. Issued 40.387 billion yuan to support the reform and development of local colleges and universities, guide local authorities to increase investment in higher education, and promote local colleges and universities to improve their ability and level of running schools.
Fifth, the effective implementation of student financial aid policies. Student aid grants of 76.931 billion yuan were issued to support the implementation of national funding policies for general high school education, secondary vocational education, higher education, etc., and 150 million people are expected to benefit throughout the year.
The sixth is to promote the continuous training and growth of a team of highly qualified teachers. Support local authorities to further implement the “National Training Program”, the “Three Districts” Talent Support Program, and the Special Teacher Program, and the Silver Age Lecture Program, and focus on improving the quality of the teaching force.
(3) Improve the quality and efficiency of basic medical and health services.
First, public health services have been effectively strengthened. The central financial administration issued 80.3 billion yuan in subsidies for basic public health services to support free provision of services such as health management, health education, and “two cancers” testing for rural women, and continuously raise the level of equalization of basic public health services. Subsidy funds of 20.06 billion yuan were issued for major public health services to support all regions in implementing national immunization plans, strengthen prevention and control of major infectious diseases such as AIDS and tuberculosis, support the construction of psychosocial service systems, and improve the ability to prevent and respond to major public health risks.
Second, medical service capacity is constantly improving. The central financial administration issued 35.21 billion yuan in subsidies to improve medical services and security capacity to support deepening the comprehensive reform of public hospitals, strengthening the training of health personnel and the construction of primary medical and health care institutions, promoting the inheritance, innovation and development of traditional Chinese medicine, and enhancing health insurance service capabilities. An essential drug system subsidy fund of 8.66 billion yuan was issued to support primary medical and health institutions such as township hospitals and village health offices to implement the essential drug system, consolidate and improve the operating mechanisms of primary medical and health institutions, and enhance basic diagnosis and treatment service capabilities.
Third, the level of basic medical insurance continues to be consolidated and improved. The central financial administration issued 386.37 billion yuan in health insurance subsidy funds for urban and rural residents to support raising the medical insurance financial subsidy standard for urban and rural residents by 24 yuan to reach no less than 724 yuan per person per year. Medical aid subsidy funds of 29.71 billion yuan were issued to support all regions to provide classified funding for people in need to participate in the medical insurance and long-term care insurance portion of individual contributions for urban and rural residents, and to help them with personal out-of-pocket expenses that are still difficult to bear after being reimbursed by medical insurance, and to consolidate back-up coverage for people in need.
(4) The level of social security continues to rise.
First, the basic livelihood of the elderly is further guaranteed. The central financial administration continues to increase subsidies to pension insurance funds. In 2026, it has issued about 1.2 trillion yuan in subsidy funds to support local authorities to ensure that basic pensions are paid in full and on time. Implement the national co-ordinated transfer scientifically, and in 2026, together with relevant departments, approve and issue a national co-ordinated transfer fund payment plan of 25.6 billion yuan.
Second, the livelihood security for people in need is secure. It issued 156.68 billion yuan in aid and subsidy funds for people in need to support all regions to coordinate efforts such as subsistence insurance and special hardship assistance and support. In the first half of the year, there were about 44.29 million people nationwide receiving basic livelihood assistance such as subsistence insurance and special hardship assistance. The average standards for urban and rural subsistence allowances were 841 yuan and 629 yuan per person per month respectively, an increase of 31 yuan and 26 yuan respectively over the same period last year.
Third, policies to support residents in their old age and childcare have been continuously improved. The central financial administration issued 99.93 billion yuan in childcare subsidy funds, an increase of 10.6% over the previous year, to support all regions in providing childcare allowances to eligible infants and young children and reduce the cost of childcare for urban and rural residents. Nationwide, more than 25 million people have already paid childcare allowances for 2026. The central financial administration has issued a total of 12.09 billion yuan in consumer subsidy funds for old-age services, and has implemented a nationwide project to distribute old-age service consumption subsidy programs to moderately disabled elderly people, ease the pressure on nursing expenses for the disabled elderly, and raise the level of disabled care.
Fourth, there is a strong guarantee of treatment for special care recipients. The central financial administration issued 64.71 billion yuan in subsidies related to special care recipients to ensure timely and full payment of benefits to special care recipients and others, and to help eligible special care recipients resolve medical difficulties.
Fifth, the level of housing security continues to be strengthened. In 2026, the central financial administration will allocate 67.241 billion yuan in subsidy funds for urban affordable housing projects to support all regions to raise public rental housing, affordable rental housing, and distribute public rental housing rental subsidies according to local conditions to meet the housing needs of low- and middle-income groups, new citizens and young people in the city. Continue to support the renovation of dilapidated urban housing, urban villages and old neighborhoods, eliminate hidden housing safety hazards, and continuously improve the living conditions of the masses. Subsidy funds of 3.95 billion yuan were issued for the rehabilitation of dilapidated houses in rural areas to support rural groups such as those who prevent people returning to poverty to carry out rural dilapidated housing rehabilitation and earthquake-resistant farm housing renovation, and to guarantee basic housing safety for rural people to prevent people returning to poverty and other groups.
(5) Cultural undertakings and cultural industries have become more prosperous.
The first is to better protect people's basic public cultural rights and interests. A capital of 21.574 billion yuan was allocated to continuously strengthen grass-roots cultural construction and optimize the allocation of resources for urban and rural public cultural services. Continue to implement cultural welfare projects such as the entry of opera into the countryside, radio and television households, promote the construction of a new era civilization practice center and integrated media center, and support the opening of about 50,000 grass-roots public cultural facilities such as museums, memorials, public libraries, art galleries, and cultural centers to the public free of charge in accordance with regulations.
The second is to improve financial support policies for public cultural services. Cooperate with relevant departments to carry out pilot work on farmhouse reform and upgrading, promote the co-construction and sharing of public cultural resources at the grass-roots level, and improve the coverage and effectiveness of public cultural services. Continue to promote the construction of a national cultural big data system, a national smart library system and a public culture cloud, build a cultural data service platform, and enhance the supply capacity of digital content for public culture.
The third is to increase the supply of high-quality public cultural services. Arrange 3,018 billion yuan from the National Art Foundation, the National Publishing Fund, the Special Fund for the Development of Chinese Literature and Art, the Special Fund for the Development of Chinese Literature and Art, and the National Film Industry Development Fund to strengthen guidance and support for artistic creation and production, and launch more outstanding works that enhance the spiritual strength of the people.
Fourth, cultivate a team of outstanding cultural talents. Arrange a special fund of 327 million yuan for cultural talents to support the training and selection of frontline cultural workers in difficult remote areas and the grassroots level, and to build a strong talent team at the grassroots level. Support organizations to implement talent projects in the field of promoting ideology and culture, and support the construction and development of state-owned arts troupes.
The fifth is to speed up the construction of a strong sports nation. A special fund of 3.212 billion yuan was issued to support all regions to carry out national fitness activities, improve the conditions of public sports facilities, etc., and promote the all-round development of mass sports and competitive sports. Support the opening of 3,680 public stadiums to the public for free or at low fees, and promote the improvement of the utilization rate of sports facilities and the level of public services.
The sixth is to promote the high-quality development of the cultural industry. Support central cultural enterprises to promote integrated innovation and development, promote the digital construction of culture, promote outstanding traditional Chinese culture, etc., and promote central cultural enterprises to become stronger, better and larger. Support local authorities to continue to promote major cultural industry project-driven strategies, and promote the improvement of the modern cultural industry system and market system.
(6) Disaster prevention, mitigation and relief capabilities continue to improve.
The first is to support emergency relief for major natural disasters. The rapid disbursement mechanism was launched three times in the first half of the year. The central financial administration issued 380 million yuan in the central government's natural disaster relief fund to support local efforts such as emergency rescue and livelihood assistance for people affected by the disaster, to respond strongly to major natural disasters such as the earthquakes in Liuzhou, Guangxi, and Haixi Prefecture in Qinghai, as well as the floods in Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, etc., to ensure the safety of people's lives and property.
The second is to improve comprehensive natural disaster prevention and control capabilities. The central financial administration issued 4.331 billion yuan to support “three high and one low” counties to strengthen comprehensive disaster prevention capacity building at the grassroots level, as well as to support comprehensive management of large-scale geological disasters, and implement comprehensive prevention and control systems such as geological hazard risk investigation and evaluation, investigation and monitoring and early warning of key hidden hazards in key regions, and capacity building for prevention and control.
The third is to strengthen emergency rescue and material support capabilities. Support the construction of a national comprehensive fire rescue team, and clarify the financial guarantee system for fire rescue teams after integration and reform. Strengthen emergency supplies reserves, and arrange 350 million yuan for the central government's emergency rescue and disaster relief reserves to purchase and replenish stocks to ensure the needs of emergency disaster relief work.
6. Actively promote comprehensive green transformation and make new progress in building a beautiful China
Focus on the key tasks of building a beautiful China, strengthen financial investment and policy guarantees, strengthen comprehensive management of the ecological environment, actively and steadily promote carbon neutrality, and push the construction of ecological civilization to a new level.
(1) Deeply fight to defend the blue sky, blue water, and pure land.
First, in terms of air pollution prevention and control, the central financial administration issued funds of 32.3 billion yuan to support 48 beautiful blue sky construction projects to accelerate the resolution of outstanding issues affecting air quality and achieve synergetic efficiency in reducing pollution and carbon; supporting the development of clean winter heating in the northern regions to ensure that ordinary people in the regions concerned stay clean, safe and warm through the winter. In the first half of the year, the average PM2.5 concentration in prefecture-level cities and above was 29.9 ug/m3, a year-on-year decrease of 6.6%; the average proportion of days with good air quality reached 82.8%, an increase of 4.5 percentage points over the previous year.
Second, in terms of water pollution prevention and control, the central financial administration issued a capital of 25.365 billion yuan to support local efforts to carry out watershed water pollution control, aquatic ecological protection and restoration, protection and construction of beautiful rivers and lakes, and prevention of groundwater pollution, etc., focusing on the Yangtze River and Yellow River basins to improve the health level of river and lake ecosystems. Continue to improve and improve the horizontal ecological protection compensation mechanism, promote the implementation of a unified horizontal ecological protection compensation mechanism for the Yangtze River and Yellow River basins, work with relevant departments to clear horizontal ecological compensation funds in all provinces along the Yangtze River and the Yellow River main stream in 2025, and supervise and guide the local authorities to do a good job of settling the funds. In the first half of the year, the proportion of excellent surface water quality sections in the country reached 87.4%, an increase of 3.0 percentage points over the previous year.
Third, in terms of soil pollution prevention and control, the central financial administration issued 4.18 billion yuan to focus on prevention and control of pollution sources involving heavy metals to carry out prevention and control of sources of soil pollution. Promote the improvement of long-term mechanisms for preventing pollution involving heavy metals, and promote the improvement of soil ecological environment quality.
(2) Continue to carry out ecosystem protection and restoration.
The central financial administration issued 5.7 billion yuan for the integrated protection and restoration project of grass and sand in landscapes, forests, fields, and lakes to support the local authorities to promote comprehensive management, systematic management, and source management of grass and sand in landscapes, forests, fields, and lakes in an integrated manner, starting from the integrity of the ecosystem. A capital of 3.8 billion yuan was issued for ecological restoration demonstration projects for abandoned mines left over from history to support local implementation of geological environment restoration and treatment, landscape remodeling, vegetation restoration, etc., to improve ecosystem quality and carbon sink capacity. A marine ecological protection and restoration fund of 3,591 billion yuan was issued to support coastal provinces to implement marine ecological protection and restoration projects. From a systemic engineering and global perspective, marine ecological protection and restoration is carried out comprehensively, throughout the entire sea area, and throughout the process, improving the quality of the marine ecological environment and improving the carbon sink capacity of marine ecosystems. A subsidy fund of 2.4 billion yuan was issued for the “Three North” project to support the integrated protection and restoration of forest grass and wetland, consolidate the achievements of sand prevention and control, and compensation for the blockade and protection of sandy land, etc., and consolidate the implementation foundation of the “Three North” project. A transfer fund of 21.9 billion yuan was issued for forestry and grassland to promote the construction of a nature reserve system with national parks as the main body, scientifically carry out large-scale land greening actions, strengthen the protection and restoration of forest resources and grassland ecological restoration and management, and provide strong support for forest grass ecological protection and restoration.
(3) Improve diversified ecological compensation mechanisms.
Continue to improve and improve the horizontal ecological protection compensation mechanism, promote the implementation of a unified horizontal ecological protection compensation mechanism for the Yangtze River and Yellow River basins, work with relevant departments to clear horizontal ecological compensation funds in all provinces along the Yangtze River and the Yellow River main stream in 2025, and supervise and guide the local authorities to do a good job of settling the funds. Currently, 104 counties across the country have been included in key areas for comprehensive ecological compensation, and the role of the “who pollutes, who treats, who protects, and who benefits” mechanism has been effectively played.
(4) Actively and steadily promote carbon neutrality when carbon peaks reach its peak.
Promote the development of renewable energy such as wind power, clean and efficient use of fossil energy, and carry out comprehensive hydrogen energy application pilot projects. Fifty-nine additional joint pilot counties have launched pilot projects to repair shortcomings in county charging and switching facilities. 25 projects were selected to launch government procurement pilot projects to support the green development of highways.
7. Strengthen government debt management, prevent risks and promote development in an integrated manner
Insist on opening the “front door” and blocking the “back door”, improve and perfect the government debt management system, control treasury bonds, local bonds, domestic debt and foreign debt, issuance and management, and focus on constructing a new pattern of government debt management.
(1) The management of treasury bonds has been continuously strengthened.
The first is to actively do a good job in issuing treasury bonds. In the first half of the year, 7.75 trillion yuan of treasury bonds were issued, including 7565 billion yuan of bookkeeping treasury bonds and 189.7 billion yuan of savings treasury bonds. In April of this year, the 2026 ultra-long-term special treasury bonds were issued. 572 billion yuan was issued in the first half of the year, completing 44% of the annual issuance tasks. The overall progress is faster than last year, which strongly guarantees the smooth progress of major projects.
Second, the 2026 sovereign bond issuance process will commence in an orderly manner. Rationally design the currency structure, term structure, place of issuance and innovative varieties of sovereign foreign debt. In May of this year, 6 billion yuan of green sovereign bonds were successfully issued in Hong Kong. The issuance yield hit the lowest level in the history of RMB sovereign bond bookkeeping and filing. The subscription ratio was 10.4 times. The order scale set a new record for offshore RMB bookkeeping and filing, and the scale and share of sovereign investment reached a record high. In June, Luxembourg successfully issued 5 billion euro sovereign bonds, setting many records, such as the largest ever issuance of Eurobonds in the Asia-Pacific region and the lowest interest rate spread in the history of issuance. The issuance of Hong Kong RMB treasury bonds was normalized, with a total of 50.5 billion yuan of Hong Kong RMB treasury bonds issued in the first half of the year.
The third is to successfully promote the implementation of savings treasury bonds (electronic) in the scope of personal pension products. In June 2026, the personal pension savings treasury bond (electronic) business was successfully launched as scheduled to support the acceleration of the development of a multi-level multi-pillar pension insurance system and meet the needs of investors to use personal pensions to purchase savings treasury bonds (electronic).
Fourth, continue to strengthen the construction of electronic channels for saving treasury bonds. Mobile banking channel sales members have been added. Currently, all 40 members of savings treasury bond underwriting groups can sell savings treasury bonds (electronic) to investors through mobile banking, further improving the convenience of people purchasing debt. At the same time, the limit for purchasing single-instalment treasury bonds per person has been rationally adjusted so that savings treasury bonds can benefit more people.
The fifth is to promote the inclusion of treasury bonds in the Sino-British over-the-counter bond business and complete the first transaction. Guide domestic treasury bond registration, custodian and settlement agencies to improve the construction of relevant systems, open real-name accounts for overseas investors in China, and comprehensively consolidate the risk prevention foundation for cross-border interconnection services while ensuring the smooth and orderly operation of the Chinese and British treasury bond business. China Construction Bank officially included treasury bonds in the Sino-British counter bond business category, and completed the first RMB 100 million treasury bond transaction with HSBC on June 1.
(2) Effective mitigation of hidden debt risks in stock.
The first is to resolve existing hidden debts in an orderly manner. Implement a package debt settlement plan to guide all regions to steadily advance the resolution of hidden local debt stocks. By the end of July, 1.73 trillion yuan of replacement bonds had been issued in various regions, completing 86.7% of the 2026 2 trillion yuan amount.
The second is to accelerate the reform and transformation of local government financing platforms. Guide local authorities to speed up the resolution of hidden debts existing on financing platforms, clarify the rights and responsibilities of governments and enterprises according to law and regulations, and speed up the divestment of government financing functions of financing platforms. Cooperate with financial management departments to optimize debt risk mitigation policies for financial support and financing platforms, and guide financial institutions to reduce the liquidity risk and interest burden of financing platforms through debt restructuring and other methods.
(3) Optimization and improvement of special bond management.
The first is to optimize the management of the use of special bonds. The new special bonds focus on supporting the construction of major projects, replacing hidden debts, and absorbing government arrears. Adhere to the principle of positive incentives, consider major strategies and major project expenditure requirements determined by the Party Central Committee and the State Council in an integrated manner, and rationally allocate amounts according to the debt risk, financial situation, management level, and project funding requirements of each region, and favor regions with adequate project preparation, high investment efficiency, and good use of capital. By the end of July, an additional 2.41 trillion yuan of special bonds had been issued to support more than 18,000 construction projects.
The second is to expand the scope of the “self-review and spontaneous” pilot. With the approval of the State Council, Hebei Province, Jiangxi Province, Hubei Province, and Chongqing City will be included in the scope of the new “self-review and spontaneous” pilot in 2026. Guide and supervise the newly included pilot regions to further improve working mechanisms, formulate regional pilot work plans, strengthen departmental coordination, improve the quality of project reserves, and speed up distribution and use. In the first half of the year, the “self-audit and spontaneous” pilot regions issued an additional 1.6 trillion yuan of special bonds, accounting for 77% of the national issuance amount.
The third is to strengthen the review of special bond projects. Guide and supervise all regions to improve the normalized planning and reserve mechanism for projects, carry out in-depth pre-project work, and push for conditions to start construction as soon as possible. Guide and supervise “self-review and spontaneous” pilot regions to improve audit standards, strengthen the review, guidance and inspection of projects in non-“ self-review and spontaneous” pilot regions, strictly prohibit unprofitable projects, and strengthen checks on projects with repeated construction and low input-output ratios.
Fourth, improve the management of the entire chain of special bonds. Guide and supervise all regions to coordinate and grasp the pace and progress of special bond issuance to achieve early issuance and early use. Strengthen penetrating supervision of special bond funds, carry out “scanning” checks on the use of special bond funds, and resolutely investigate and punish irregularities. Strengthen asset management for special bond projects, establish asset accounts for special bond projects, and promote the formation of a closed loop of management from fund management to asset management, and from debt side to asset side.
8. Continue to deepen fiscal reform and management, and steadily improve the effectiveness of financial management
Take the financial science management pilot as a starting point to strengthen management and promote standardization, deepen reforms and increase efficiency, and comprehensively raise the level of systematization, refinement, standardization, and legalization of financial management.
(1) Firmly push forward the reform of the fiscal and taxation system.
First, the reform of the budget system is being implemented in an orderly manner. Deepen zero-based budget reform, further add pilot central departments when preparing the 2027 budget in 2026, and basically achieve full coverage of first-level budget units. For the first time, a comprehensive financial report of the central government was filed with the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. Actively promote the revision of the Government Procurement Law.
Second, the reform of the tax system continues to be deepened. Comprehensively implement the value-added tax law and its implementing regulations. Steadily promote and standardize preferential tax policies, adjust export tax rebate policies for products such as photovoltaics, etc., comprehensively levy personal income tax on offshore trusts, adjust preferential vehicle and ship tax policies for energy-saving vehicles and new energy vehicles, gradually resume the levy of consumption tax on lithium-ion batteries, etc., and adjust preferential urban land use tax policies for some energy resource industries. Promote the improvement of the local tax system, include all volatile organic compounds in the scope of environmental protection tax collection, push back and steadily reduce the consumption tax collection process in an orderly manner, and promote local additional tax legislation. Strengthen tax management for the platform economy.
Third, the reform of the financial system is progressing steadily. Optimize the transfer payment structure, reduce some special transfers by a certain ratio, etc., and increase the scale of local financial transfers. Select some provinces to carry out pilot projects to integrate and coordinate the use of transfer funds to enhance local coordination capabilities. Play the role of incentive and restraint mechanisms for transfer payments to promote high-quality development, and mobilize local enthusiasm for economic development. Deepen the reform of the financial system below the provincial level, standardize financial authority and expenditure responsibilities at the provincial level, etc., enhance provincial financial coordination capabilities, and effectively promote the decline in financial resources.
(2) Effectively strengthen the construction of accounting systems and financial supervision and inspection, and further take financial discipline more seriously.
The first is to strengthen the construction and implementation of accounting laws and standards. Promote the completion of amendments to the Certified Public Accountants Law. Revise the financial statement presentation standards and issue Explanation No. 20 of the Accounting Standards for Enterprises. Conduct analysis work on the implementation of enterprise accounting standards, and publish the 2025 enterprise accounting standards implementation analysis report and standard implementation question and answer cases. Organize the drafting of accounting manuals for the electricity and banking industries. Carry out pilot work on cost collection for governance of public data resources. Carry out pilot work to implement sustainable disclosure standards for enterprises, and steadily promote the construction of a unified national sustainable disclosure standard system. A pilot project to strengthen internal control in administrative institutions. Issuance of financial sharing service guidelines. Complete the preparation and issuance of national standards for 10 types of electronic certificate accounting data.
The second is to strengthen the role of financial supervision. Firmly carry out financial law rectification in 2026, focusing on key areas such as investigation and prosecution of major cases in the financial field, special rectification of key financial law issues by central departments, special rectification of key local financial law issues, accounting evaluation, supervision and inspection, and normalized supervision of budget execution, etc., to seriously investigate and punish illegal acts, continue to strengthen rectification and reporting and accountability, so that financial law truly “has long teeth”. Strengthen accounting evaluation supervision, inspection, and handling penalties, organize practice quality inspections on 40 leading and key accounting firms and 15 asset evaluation agencies, and issue penalty decisions against the “Dongxu” audit agency ZTE Caiguanghua Certified Public Accountants in accordance with the law. In the first half of the year, administrative penalty decisions were made against 2 accounting firms, 49 certified public accountants, 8 companies, 12 relevant responsible persons, 4 asset evaluation agencies, and 12 asset evaluators in accordance with the law, and 3 financial supervision and inspection notices were issued, and 19 typical cases were publicly reported, giving full play to the warning and deterrent effect.
Third, do a solid job of normalizing the execution of the budget. Focus on major national strategies, funds in the field of people's livelihood, and supervisory priorities such as implementing the requirements of the Party and government organs, strengthen daily supervision and process control of the execution of departmental budgets and transfer fund budgets, strengthen online system early warning and offline field verification, and correct errors in a timely manner. Expand the scope of dynamic monitoring of actual funds in central budget units, strengthen joint supervision of centralized disbursement funds with the treasury, and take financial regulations seriously. Carry out pilot monitoring work on integrated and coordinated transfer funds to achieve tracking and monitoring of the entire chain of integrated funds.
(3) Continue to deepen scientific financial management.
The first is to further promote pilot scientific financial management. Adhere to the combination of top-down and bottom-up, and continue to organize 12 provinces to explore effective paths of scientific financial management according to local conditions, focusing on 11 pilot tasks, including strengthening financial resources and budget coordination, and implementing the requirements of a tight lifestyle. Guide local finance departments to establish systems, set standards, and monitor, promptly refine experiences that can be replicated and promoted, and speed up the construction of horizontal to edge and vertical management systems, covering all aspects of the entire process from the central government to the local authorities, from the source of budget arrangements to the end of use of funds, and from the financial department to each budget unit, and promote potential efficiency through scientific management.
The second is to strengthen the management of state-owned assets. Complete the work related to the State-owned Assets Report with high quality. Actively promote the transfer and sharing of state-owned assets by administrative and public institutions, solve management problems such as inefficient idle by digital means, and achieve cross-departmental, cross-level, and cross-regional transfer and sharing of assets. By the end of June, the state-owned assets transfer and sharing platform of administrative institutions across the country had gathered more than 710,000 pieces of asset transfer sharing and demand information, and had completed the transfer of 90,000 units (sets) of equipment, furniture assets, and about 325,000 square meters of housing, saving about 1.59 billion yuan in budget capital.
The third is to deepen the management of state-owned financial capital. Improve the national financial capital management system. Consolidate the foundation of property rights management in state-owned financial institutions, strengthen the management of the entire process of property rights registration, asset evaluation, and property rights transfer, carry out in-depth closed-loop evaluation of state-owned financial capital property rights management, and strengthen the application of evaluation results. Strengthen monitoring of the operation of state-owned financial capital, evaluate the operation and management of state-owned financial capital on an annual basis, dynamically monitor the financial status of central financial enterprises and their subsidiaries at various levels on a quarterly basis, and promote the continuous and healthy operation of enterprises and the preservation and appreciation of state-owned financial capital.
Fourth, improve the effectiveness of budget performance management. Improve the pre-performance evaluation mechanism, innovatively invite external experts to use on-site meetings to organize pre-financial performance evaluations of 10 central departmental key projects, and strictly control project entry points. On the basis of the “full coverage” of project performance self-assessment by central departments, 756 project performance self-assessment results in the central departmental draft accounts were reviewed. The organization carried out performance self-evaluations of 86 items of local transfer payments by the central government, strengthened spot checks and reviews of performance self-assessment results, continued to supervise the rectification of problems, and improve the performance of transfer funds. Focusing on key areas such as boosting consumption, scientific and technological innovation, industrial development, ecological environment, and people's livelihood security, the organization carried out key performance evaluations of 55 policies and projects.
IX. Fiscal Policy Outlook
Facing more complex changes in the situation and intertwined risks and challenges, the Ministry of Finance will adhere to Xi Jinping's ideology of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, adhere to the general tone of steady progress, fully and accurately implement the new development concept, accelerate the construction of a new development pattern, better coordinate the two major domestic and international situations, coordinate development and security, implement more active fiscal policies, give full play to the effectiveness of various stock policies, and promptly plan and introduce pragmatic incremental policies based on macroeconomic performance to increase countercyclical adjustment efforts to expand domestic demand, optimize supply, and effectively protect and improve people raw, Promote the continuous development of the economy in a new and positive direction, and provide a strong guarantee for achieving a good start to the “15th Five-Year Plan”. Focus on doing a good job in six areas:
(1) Strongly and effectively implement more active fiscal policies.
Reasonably speed up the disbursement and use of funds, continuously optimize the fiscal expenditure structure, guarantee expenditure in key areas, strengthen fund supervision, and effectively improve the efficiency of the use of funds and the effectiveness of policy implementation. Reasonably speed up the issuance and use of government bonds, better connect project implementation with bond issuance, support the implementation of detailed early planning for key projects, focus on project implementation, and form more physical workload as soon as possible. Special treasury bonds were issued to increase capital to eight central financial enterprises to enhance their ability to operate steadily, withstand risks and serve the real economy.
(2) Support the all-round expansion of domestic demand.
Support the promotion of “dual” construction and “two new” tasks, and improve implementation mechanisms. Optimize and implement a package of policies for fiscal and financial coordination to promote domestic demand, improve working mechanisms for departmental collaboration and central local collaboration, and better encourage residents' consumption and leverage private investment. Coordinate the use of funds such as ultra-long-term special treasury bonds, local government special bonds, and investment within the central budget, focus more on key areas such as new quality productivity and new urbanization, invest more in areas that are strategically significant and conducive to increasing total factor productivity, and strongly support the construction of major projects determined in the “15th Five-Year Plan” plan outline.
(3) Promoting scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation.
Highlight the supply of scientific and technological innovation and industrial demand, and comprehensively use policy tools such as special funds and government investment funds to promote the optimization and upgrading of traditional industries and cultivate and expand emerging industries and future industries. Implement financial support policies to promote the expansion of capacity, quality, and better development of the productive service industry and lifestyle service industry. Improve the effectiveness of investment in scientific and technological innovation, and increase support for key and strategic areas.
(4) Continuously protect and improve people's livelihood.
Actively stabilize employment, promote income growth, and strengthen employment assistance for key groups and disadvantaged groups. Adapt to structural changes and migration trends in the population, and optimize the layout of basic public services such as education and medical care. Implement policies such as childcare allowances, free preschool education, and consumption subsidies for old-age services. Strengthen the construction of inclusive, basic, and underpinned livelihood, improve the “one old, one small” service system, and improve the hierarchical classification of social assistance systems. Ensure emergency relief and improve the ability to prevent and respond to natural disasters.
(5) Strengthen risk prevention and mitigation in key areas.
Continue to implement a good package of debt conversion policies, speed up the resolution of existing hidden debts, strictly prevent the falsification of debts and the addition of hidden debts, and push forward the withdrawal and reform of local financing platforms. Support the smooth operation of grass-roots finance, implement hierarchical guarantee responsibilities, strengthen operation monitoring and treasury fund scheduling, and effectively secure the bottom line of the “Three Guarantees” at the grassroots level. Coordinate and make good use of existing policies and assist in cleaning up arrears in corporate accounts, etc.
(6) Deepen financial management reforms.
Deeply promote pilot scientific financial management. Promote the steady implementation of zero-based budget reforms, pilot projects to integrate and coordinate the use of transfer funds, standardize tax incentives and financial subsidy policies, and consumption tax reform. Strengthen fiscal expenditure management with stricter standards and more practical measures, and put in place the requirements for the Party and government organs to get used to living too tight. Strengthen financial supervision, carry out in-depth three-year actions to improve the quality and efficiency of financial supervision, strengthen the financial supervision system mechanism, take financial discipline more seriously, and continuously improve the authority and effectiveness of financial supervision.
This article was selected from the “Ministry of Finance” official website, Zhitong Finance Editor: Feng Qiuyi.