On Sunday, China's Finance Ministry announced that it has spent a total of 31.6 billion yuan ($4.52 billion) to fight the coronavirus outbreak, which has killed over 900 people and infected more than 40,000 in mainland China. An additional fund of 71.85 billion yuan ($10.26 billion) has been allocated at all government levels in order to fight the virus.
China's Foreign Minister Liu Kun's statement
Till now, China has spent 31.6 billion yuan ($4.52 billion) to fight the deadly coronavirus, since its outbreak in late December, China's Foreign Minister Liu Kun said in a statement on Sunday, February 9.
Along with this, the government has allocated a total of 71.85 billion yuan ($10.26 billion) at all levels of the government in order to fight the virus, according to the remarks posted on the Ministry's website, Strait Times reported. The fund will be used to ensure that the public can afford diagnosis and treatment and will ensure that the fight against the novel coronavirus will not be hampered due to financial constraints.
The minister reassured that the central government's fiscal authorities will continue to offer favorable policies to curb the spread of the virus. He further iterated that the local fiscal departments should support the resumption of factory production and help the SMEs that faced difficulties due to widespread restrictions during the Lunar New Year holidays.
China's central bank's assistance to fight the epidemic
On Sunday, China's central bank said that it would provide loans of 300 billion yuan (approx. $43 billion) to finance the control of coronavirus, Xinhua reported. It will provide loans at a lower interest rate compared to market rates, to policy and commercial banks via its re-lending program.
Commercial and policy banks, on their part, will use the loans to support activities linked to epidemic control by companies short-listed by the authorities. For this, the central bank will strictly track the use of funds to prevent potential misuse. The plan was announced on Sunday by the vice governor of the People's Bank of China, at a national teleconference, also attended by the country's Finance Minister.
