2010-11-12 15:25

The civil affairs departments of several local governments recently launched temporary subsidies for low-income households, as a measure to relieve pressure brought by soaring food prices, said Zhou Wangjun, vice-director of the department of price with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the National Business Daily reported Friday.

Guangzhou's bureau of civil affairs decided to offer subsidies to low-income households in November and December. A person in charge of the issue said the subsidies were given out as the consumer price index (CPI), the major gauge of inflation, had reached a certain level.

This is the second time that Guangzhou has provided subsidies to low-income households. The first time was from May to July.

The two-month subsidies will total 12.96 million yuan and will benefit about 138,000 Guangzhou residents. The person in charge said if CPI reaches 4 percent continuously for six months, the government will consider increasing the subsidies.

Seven provinces including Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang have established CPI-related subsidies policy and most of them have started to give out subsidies, the report said.

According to data released by the NDRC last week, in October, the prices of 24 food products in 36 large and medium-sized cities increased on a month-on-month base, accounting for about 80 percent of the total 31 products.