Page 4 - REPORT ON THE WORK OF THE GOVERNMENT

living needs.
We assisted foreign trade enterprises in tackling difficulties relating to raw

materials, labor, and logistics, improved loading, unloading and transport
efficiency in ports, and responded promptly to the concerns of foreign-funded
enterprises and helped resolve their problems. The volume of trade in goods
exceeded expectations, and utilized foreign investment increased steadily.

In response to significant employment pressure, we boosted policy support to
stabilize and increase employment. Last year, the surveyed urban unemployment
rate saw a notable increase for some time. Therefore, we put a stronger emphasis
on ensuring stable employment when implementing fiscal, tax, financial, and

investment policies. We postponed the payment of social insurance premiums by
enterprises in distressed sectors, significantly increased the proportion of
unemployment insurance funds returned to enterprises to keep payrolls stable,
and raised subsidies for stabilizing and increasing employment. To support
business startups, we implemented policies on guaranteed loans and on reducing

or waiving the rent for state-owned premises.
We made college graduates employment a priority and provided targeted
assistance to people who had difficulty finding employment. Work-relief programs
in major projects were expanded. More than 32 million people were lifted out of

poverty with new employment, maintaining a steady increase. Thanks to these
efforts, overall employment remained stable.
In the face of a global surge in inflation, we strived to ensure market supply
and stable prices, particularly those of food and energy. Last year, global inflation

rocketed to a 40-year high, exerting great pressure on domestic price stability.
We responded effectively to major natural disasters such as floods and
droughts. To see that no time was lost during the planting and harvest seasons, we
worked to ensure unrestricted movement of agricultural machines on public roads

and saw that farming was free from disruptions.
We issued agricultural supply subsidies to grain growers in three installments.
All this helped ensure good grain harvests and stable supplies of major
agricultural products.
We leveraged the role of coal as a major source of energy, increased advanced

coal production capacity and stepped up support for power plants and
heat-supply enterprises to ensure energy supplies. Despite high global inflation,
we have kept overall prices at a comparatively low level, which is truly

3