China's parliament approves economic policy, budget (1st Lead)

Mar 14, 2010, 3:48 GMT

Beijing - China's nominal parliament on Sunday endorsed policies designed to bolster the economy against the global recession and approved an annual budget that included a 7.5-per-cent hike in military spending.

Reports on the budget and economic performance were approved by a large majority of the nearly 3,000 members of the National People's Congress, who took part in rapid electronic voting at the end of the parliament's nine-day annual session.

The economic report was approved by 97.5 per cent of the 2,909 delegates present, while 84.5 per cent of them endorsed the budget report.

A relatively low 78.7 per cent of the delegates approved a legal report by the Supreme People's Court. Nearly 500 delegates voted against accepting the court's report, in a traditional reflection of concerns over judicial corruption.

In his economic report, Premier Wen Jiabao said China 'urgently needs to transform the pattern of economic development.'

Wen said the government would 'promote the steady development of agriculture and a continuous increase in incomes.' It would encourage job creation, support the growth of service industries, expand consumer demand, fight corruption and improve government accountability, he said.

Wen announced a record budget deficit of 1.05 trillion yuan (154 billion dollars) for 2010 with planned central and local government spending of 8.453 trillion yuan, up 11.4 per cent from last year.

'This is a crucial year for continuing to deal with the global financial crisis, maintaining steady and rapid economic development, and accelerating the transformation of the pattern of economic development,' Wen said.

China said its economy showed signs of recovery from the global slowdown last year. Despite a 16-per-cent fall in export values in 2009, its gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 8.7 per cent, stimulated by a 4-trillion-yuan infrastructure-centred spending package.

Wen said the government would target GDP growth of about 8 per cent this year.

He warned of several pressing risks, including fears of a growing bubble in China's property market.