Some Yn40bn is to be spent on providing basic living assistance to 20m rural residents who are disabled or too ill to work, reported South China Morning Post. The Ministry of Civil Affairs said the monthly stipend paid to each person would be decided by local governments and could vary from about Yn60 in Guangdong to Yn10 in poorer areas.
Part of the Yn40bn is being used on a decades-old scheme that was supposed to provide food, clothing, shelter and medical supplies to 5.7m people, but the majority had not received any help at all. The ministry was also considering paying medical insurance premiums for rural families in some areas. The new scheme was said to be separate from the previously announced 'minimum income insurance scheme' – an experiment that covers 4m rural residents.