BEIJING: Chinese provinces spent at least 352 billion yuan (US$51.6 billion) on COVID-19 containment in 2022, according to annual budget reports from local governments, adding strains to provincial finances in a year when economic growth slowed. Of China's 31 provinces, regions and municipalities, at least
BEIJING: Chinese provinces spent at least 352 billion yuan on COVID-19 containment in 2022, according to annual budget reports from local governments, adding strains to provincial finances in a year when economic growth slowed.
China's biggest provincial economy, Guangdong in the south, spent 71.14 billion yuan last year, including vaccinations, PCR testing and subsidies for medical staff. The figure, the largest among the 20 provincial economies, was up 56.8 per cent from COVID-related spending in 2021 and more than double 2020's spending.
When China reopened its borders on Jan 8 after three years of sticking to a strict"zero-COVID" regime, state media Xinhua News Agency reported that"it has become difficult to eliminate the coronavirus, and the social costs and price of COVID prevention and control were rising".Declining state land sales revenue has also exacerbated local governments' financial woes, which were eroded by China's feeble growth, weak tax income and stringent COVID-19 restrictions.
The eastern coastal province of Jiangsu, the country's second-biggest provincial economy, spent 42.3 billion yuan handling the pandemic last year, 28 times more than in 2021.
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