Subsidies to Rural Consumers Top 30m Yuan

BEIJING, July 1 -- China has subsidized 30.7 billion yuan to rural purchasers of home appliances, cars and motorcycles, the Beijing Business Today reported Wednesday, citing an official from the Ministry of Finance.

Rural consumers have bought 68.19 million home appliances, 2.98 million vehicles and 7.95 million motorcycles by June 20, according to Wang Bao'an, assistant minister of Finance.

Recently, the Ministry of Commerce and six other government agencies jointly issued a paper to regulate sales outlets of the program.

China started the subsidy program in February last year to spur rural consumption to buoy the nation's economic growth amid the global economic downturn. Farmers have received subsidies equal to 13 percent of the price of certain kinds of home appliances.

The government also began to subsidize rural buyers of autos from March last year.