The central government will give greater financial support to its underdeveloped areas, said Su Ming, deputy director of the Research Institute for Fiscal Science under China's Ministry of Finance.

Addressing a seminar Tuesday on the competitive development of Chinese cities, Su said that each year half of the central fiscal revenue comes from local areas and half of which comes from China's eastern areas.

"In another word, the revenue from the eastern areas equals to the total sum from both central and western areas of the country," he added.

"The big revenue gap between different areas means that China's central government needs to put more money into underdeveloped areas to back-up their economic growth," the economist said.

Financial reinforcement to the underdeveloped areas shows the equality principle in the country's macro-economy, he said, noting that in Germany, people with high incomes are required to contribute to subsidizing those with low incomes.

"It is a lesson worth learning," Su said.

(Xinhua News Agency August 14, 2002)