CRI听力:Income Distribution Lacks Timetable and Details: Economists

A number of economists here in China are suggesting the government's newly-unveiled plans to tackle income distribution lack a clear timetable.

The same economists are also warning the implementation of the plan, which is designed to bridge the country's widening wealth gap, is not going to be easy.

CRI's Shen Chengcheng has more.

The plans approved by the State Council, China's cabinet, includes doubling the average incomes of both urban and rural residents by 2020 from the average in 2010.

The new plans include a goal of reducing the number of people living below the poverty line by around 80 million as of 2015.

In 2011 around 128 million people were listed under the poverty line.

The new plans also include loosening controls on interest rates, a move which is likely to lift the interest income of savers.

However, Liu Shengjun, vice-director of Lujiazui International Finance Research Center, says the new plans don't say how long this will take to achieve.

"A problem with the new plans is the lack of a timetable. For example, the idea of easing control of interest rate has been around for many years, but we still don't know how long it will take for us to have a market-oriented interest rate. Another problem with the plans is they don't include detailed measures as to how the targets in the plans will be met."

Liu Shengjun says the new reform plans cover many aspects, but plans will be difficult to be implemented as some of the reforms hurt interest groups.

"The plans have mentioned the monopoly of state-owned companies and such monopoly should not exist. The central government has issued the so-called new 36 clauses for a few years now but there have been little improvements. This shows strong objections from interest groups, and we should treat this seriously. We should also work on sensitive issues like inheritance tax."

The new plans also include a cap on the salaries of managers at state-owned companies and a requirement to raise the percentage of profits contributed by state-owned firms to the government by about 5 percentage points by 2015.

The government is also set to levy more taxes on the rich.

Authorities are also considering bringing in an inheritance tax.

Earlier this month, the National Bureau of Statistics released the Gini co-efficient, a measure of income disparity, suggesting it had reached 0.47 - well above the 0.4 level considered a trigger for social discontent.
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For CRI, I'm Shen Chengcheng.