The Chinese government spent more than 260 billion yuan or nearly US$32 billion last year on helping poor people.

A State Council working group on poverty made the announcement at a meeting in Beijing on Saturday. 

Officials from the group said the money had been invested in loans and tax breaks to boost the incomes of poor farmers, operated through 260 leading businesses.

Investment and preferential policies to boost agricultural development have been particularly focused on China's underdeveloped central and western areas.

The government has also been creating new employment opportunities for jobless people in cities and townships, and has also established a social security system for the unemployed.

(Xinhua News Agency May 22, 2005)