Economy Conditions and Targets for Economy Development

2004-03-01 18:01

Economic Development The economy and transportation in old Tibet were very backward. There was no modern industry, only animal husbandry and a little agriculture and handicrafts. After the democratic reform in 1959 economic construction quickened, particularly after the implementation of the reform and opening policy in 1979 Not only were modern industries and transportation and telecommunications facilities established: the agriculture, animal husbandry and commerce already in place developed rapidly.

In 1994 Tibet's gross product reached 4.17 billion yuan, an g 6 percent rise over the previous year. Total agricultural output value was 2 45 billion yuan, more than six times that of 1978 and a 4.5 percent rise over the previous year. Total animal husbandry output value exceeded 200 million yuan and the sale-rate for livestock was 15 percent. Total value of industrial output was 535 million yuan, an increase of 12 percent over the previous year Fined asset investment was 2.02 billion yuan, mostly in transportation, power, telecommunications, mining and building materials Total volume of retail sales reached 2.S billion yuan in 1994, 27.6 percent higher than, the previous year.

Economic Policies Since the early 1950s the state has been giving special support to Tibetan economic development It has allocated large amounts of financial subsidies, subsidized special projects and invested in key construction projects. It has also sent a large amount material aid to Tibet Since the beginning of the 1980s such special aid has been increasing every year The central government has allocated one billion yuan in financial subsidies to Tibet every year. It has also arranged for state departments and other provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions to give Tibet manpower and material, financial and technological aid, in an attempt to bolster the Tibetan economy and improve the people's livelihood Over the last 40 years the central government has spent more than 35 billion yuan in Tibet on financial subsidies and investment in key construction projects.

Since 19S0 the state has directed a looser policy towards peasants and herdsmen in Tibet allowing them to cultivate their own economic growth Land was returned to the householder for his own use to operate as he chose This policy would remain unchanged for the extended future. Livestock were also raised by the householder as his private property and otherwise dealt with as he saw fit.

As above, this is a long-term policy. Peasants and herdsmen are exempted from taxes on farming and animal husbandry Collective enterprises and individually run industrial and commercial enterprises producing daily necessities for Tibetans are exempt from industrial and commercial taxes Peasants and herdsmen and collective enterprises that sell or swap agricultural, animal husbandry and sideline products or handicrafts are all exempted from taxes In the future the state will continue to implement preferential policies in Tibet regards finance, taxes, investment, price subsidies, foreign trade, enterprise reform, agriculture and rural programmes. The central government's policy for the fiscal subsidization of Tibet takes two forms First, starting from a decided base quantity subsidies will increase progressively by set amounts.

Additional aid will be allocated for special projects Second, taxation will be consistent, changing as appropriate to adapt to the circumstances, but remaining light and simple in form. The state in particular supports large- and medium-scale projects involving energy, transportation and telecommunications and social development projects If the central government makes a major move to regulate prices with the result that prices rise substantially in Tibet, the government will supply Tibet with offsetting subsidies.

The state has a relaxed policy towards foreign trade in Tibet, opening wide so as to speed development. Individuals are encouraged to make use of hitherto uncultivated land and wasteland for use as croplands, pasture or by planting trees. Maintaining the premise that all land, including grassland, belongs to the people as a whole, the policy states that whosoever develops and manages land shall enjoy the benefits thereby produced.

Such land use rights are heritable and the policy will continue for a long time to come. Economic Development Targets Tibet is now realizing on all fronts the spirit articulated at the CPC Central Committee and State Council sponsored Third Symposium on Work in Tibet. Held in July 1994, the symposium decided the goals for economic and stoical development in Tibet for the remaining years of the century working hard to effect ten percent annual increases in the region's total output value, raising it to seven billion yuan by the year 2000; by the same year, raising total grain output to one million tons and total generating capacity to 400,000 kilowatts; every county is projected to have a middle school, every township a primary school and 80 percent of school-age children to be enrolled in school.

The following fields have been prioritized in order to realize these goals.

-Great Efforts Towards Developing the Economy in Areas Practising Agriculture and Animal Husbandry. In the agricultural areas of central Tibet, grain production is being stressed, while at the same time forestry and cultivation of fruit and vegetables are also developed. In areas with both agriculture and animal husbandry, animal husbandry is being expanded as appropriate. The integration of agriculture and animal husbandry will be pursued with the goal of producing more than enough grain, meat and milk for self sufficiency.

In animal husbandry areas production and processing of animal by-products is being given priority In forested and border areas, attention is being focused on deep processing and comprehensive utilization of forestry products; more flexible measures are being taken to invigorate border trade and diversified operations.

Irrigation-based cultivation is being strengthened, as is basic construction in the pasturelands. The acreage of land with reliable irrigation will be expanded Medium- and low-yield fields will be transformed and soil improved.

Science will continue to be used to better agirculture with the broader dissemination of technology and high-quality seed varieties At the same time, assistance will be given to a number of large-scale, top grade, productive township enterprises.

-Active Development of Industry. Industry is being restructured. Work is being directed towards developing the exploitation of the three great resources -minerals, forestry and livestock, increasing valueadding processing to make them mainstay industries The technological transformation of industrial enterprises is being accelerated to increase their share in total output value

-Developing Energy Production, Transportation and Telecommunications and Other Infrastructure. Construction already begun on large- and mediumscale power stations and small rural hydropower stations is being sped up Every effort will be made to build several additional key power stations. Rural highway construction is being focussed on so as to form a thoroughgoing transpr, rtation network as soon as possible. Railways and civil aviation are being developed.

In the field of telecommunications, a long-distance transmission network with transmission based on satellite and optical cable and a mostly programme-controlled telephone network are being set up Everything will be done to establish a quick, convenient, efficient telecommunications network in Tibet by the year 2000, to programme-control county-to-county telephone com munications and enter 80 percent of the counties in the national automatic telephone trunk network Quicken the Pace of the Economic Restructuring The Tibet Autonomous Region will accelerate the reform of state owned enterprises, agriculture, animal husbandry and the macro-regulatory, goods circulation and social security systems, as it works to establish a socialist market economy system Reorganizing existing state owned enterprises into solely state invested companies and limited liability companies is being explored.

Price reform will continue to he promoted within the goods circulation system so as to establish the market as the mechanism by which prices are determined. A new tax model centred on a system of tax distribution will be established Value-added taxes will be the major transfer taxes. Taxes on earnings by domeshically-invested enterprises and individuals will be made the same and every effort will he made to put the tax system in Tibet on the same track with the rest of the nation.