China will roll out a series of measures to stimulate China’s flagging rural economy, as it believes the countryside is the key to the nation’s economic revival, the South China Morning Post reported. In the first policy document issued jointly by the State Council and the Communist Party Central Committee this year, the government said on Sunday that 2009 would be "the toughest year" so far since 2000 and highlighted rural development as a major plank of its economic policy. "The development of agriculture and rural areas in 2009 is of special significance," the document said. To this end, the policy paper outlined 28 broad policies, saying that more money would be spent on agricultural subsidies and that budget outlays and bond revenues would be "skewed" towards rural villages.