Shanghai Daily news

China pledged to spend more money this year to improve the lives of millions of farmers, while the government will also step up support for education, the environment and science development.

Total government expenditure will climb 22.6 percent from a year ago, or 1.12 trillion yuan (US$157.6 billion), to 6.08 trillion yuan this year, according to the Ministry of Finance's budget proposal.

The proposal was submitted to the ongoing annual meeting of the National People's Congress on Wednesday.

Problems in agriculture and the lives of billions of farmers will be allocated 562.5 billion yuan, up 130.7 billion yuan, from 2007.

The government will also spend 276.16 billion yuan this year to improve the social security network and employment situation, a jump of 24.2 percent from a year ago.

Education will take 156.18 billion yuan, 83.16 billion yuan will be spent on public health and 27 billion yuan on energy reserves and emissions reductions.