China front-loads transfer payments to steady local finance: ministry

BEIJING, March 23 (Xinhua) -- China has earmarked 400 billion yuan (about 62.9 billion U.S. dollars) of transfer payments to help local governments handle pressure from tax refunds, an official said on Wednesday.

The advance allocation was made on Monday -- days before April 1, the scheduled date for the country to begin increasing the scale of value-added tax (VAT) credit refunds to bolster small businesses, Vice Minister of Finance Xu Hongcai told a press conference.