China has allocated a total of 11.5 billion yuan (about 1.59 billion U.S. dollars) to assist in disaster relief this year, said an official of the Ministry of Finance on Wednesday.
Fu Jinling, director general of the Department of Economic Construction of the Ministry of Finance, made the statement at a press conference, saying that the Ministry of Finance has worked closely with the departments of emergency management, agriculture, water conservancy, transportation and other departments to establish mechanisms for disaster information sharing, rapid allocation of central disaster relief funds, and post-disaster recovery and reconstruction.
"Since the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Finance has activated the rapid allocation mechanism for natural disaster relief funds six times, and the natural disaster relief funds have been distributed to the affected areas within 24 hours from the central government. This year the central government has allocated 11.5 billion yuan of disaster relief funds to local governments, providing strong financial support," Fu said.
In addition, the ministry has allocated 2.037 billion yuan of central financial funds for agricultural disaster prevention and reduction.
The funds are mainly used to subsidize the spraying of plant growth regulator and foliar fertilizer, so as to ensure stable autumn grain production.
China allocates 11.5 bln yuan for disaster relief this year: official
Germany's leading home appliances makers BSH and Miele said at the ongoing IFA Berlin that they would expand investment in China where they continued to see huge opportunities and potential for their business growth.
BSH and Miele are exhibiting their newest products at the world's largest trade show for consumer electronics and home appliances, which opened on Sept. 6.
"We invested over 800 million euros (in China) over those years. In five or 10 years, one thing we for sure will not change, that China is a very important market for us, so we will continue to invest into this market under our three brands -- Gaggenau, Siemens and Bosch," said Matthias Metz, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Management of BSH Home Appliances Limited.
Axel Kniehl, Executive Director of Marketing and Sales of German home appliances manufacturer Miele, said Chinese consumers helped the company make right adjustments for needs of new generations.
"The Chinese consumers are always the super early adapters, much more than anyone else around the world. And so to us, that's a great challenge, but also an opportunity to learn and to understand how to adjust even earlier to the right needs of new generations and future generations. We will continue ongoing investments on the production side where we already have a factory in China, but especially also on the consumer side, so we are constantly growing by opening up also our own retail stores," said Kniehl.
BSH, Miele to expand investment in China
