The Ministry of Finance of the People's Republic of China () is the constituent department of the

State Council of the People's Republic of China The State Council, constitutionally synonymous with the Central People's Government since 1954 (particularly in relation to local governments), is the chief administrative authority of the People's Republic of China. It is chaired by the p ...

which administers

macroeconomic Macroeconomics (from the Greek prefix ''makro-'' meaning "large" + ''economics'') is a branch of economics dealing with performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of an economy as a whole. For example, using interest rates, taxes, and ...

policies and the annual

budget A budget is a calculation play, usually but not always financial, for a defined period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including time, costs and expenses, environmenta ...

. It also handles

fiscal policy In economics and political science, fiscal policy is the use of government revenue collection (taxes or tax cuts) and expenditure to influence a country's economy. The use of government revenue expenditures to influence macroeconomic variables ...

, economic regulations and government expenditure for the state. The ministry also records and publishes annual

data on

China's economy The People's Republic of China has an upper middle income developing mixed socialist market economy that incorporates economic planning through industrial policies and strategic five-year plans. —Xu, Chenggang. "The Fundamental Institutio ...

. This includes information such as previous

economic growth Economic growth can be defined as the increase or improvement in the inflation-adjusted market value of the goods and services produced by an economy in a financial year. Statisticians conventionally measure such growth as the percent rate of ...

rates in China, central government debt and borrowing and many other indicators regarding the economy of Mainland China. The Ministry of Finance's remit is smaller than its counterparts in many other states. Macroeconomic management is primarily handled by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). State-owned industries are the responsibility of the

State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) is a special commission of the People's Republic of China, directly under the State Council. It was founded in 2003 through the consolidation of variou ...

, and there are separate regulators for

banking A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

and securities. It also does not handle regulation of the money markets or

interest rate An interest rate is the amount of interest due per period, as a proportion of the amount lent, deposited, or borrowed (called the principal sum). The total interest on an amount lent or borrowed depends on the principal sum, the interest rate, th ...

s. These, together with other aspects of

monetary policy Monetary policy is the policy adopted by the monetary authority of a nation to control either the interest rate payable for very short-term borrowing (borrowing by banks from each other to meet their short-term needs) or the money supply, often a ...

, are governed by the People's Bank of China (PBC), Mainland China's central bank. The Ministry, NDRC and PBC are equal in status, with their political heads all sitting on the

State Council State Council may refer to: Government * State Council of the Republic of Korea, the national cabinet of South Korea, headed by the President * State Council of the People's Republic of China, the national cabinet and chief administrative auth ...

History

In 1969, during the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

, the

approved the consolidation of PBC's headquarters as a bureau within the Ministry of Finance. Local PBC branches were merged into local government finance departments. This effective demotion of the PBC lasted for a decade until August 1979, when the PBC was separated from the Ministry. In 2009, the Ministry of Finance converted its ownership of $200 billion of China Investment Corporation's debt into

equity Equity may refer to: Finance, accounting and ownership * Equity (finance), ownership of assets that have liabilities attached to them ** Stock, equity based on original contributions of cash or other value to a business ** Home equity, the dif ...

, a result which relieved CIC of interest payments on the special treasury bonds that had initially capitalized it and instead resulted in CIC paying an annual dividend to the Ministry. The Ministry of Finance has sought to implement

property taxes A property tax or millage rate is an ad valorem tax on the value of a property.In the OECD classification scheme, tax on property includes "taxes on immovable property or net wealth, taxes on the change of ownership of property through inheri ...

since the early 2010s, but has been opposed on this issue by the National People's Congress and many local governments. As of at least early 2024, property taxes have been kept off the legislative agenda.

Role

The main functions of the Ministry of Finance is to carry out the following duties of the state:Ministry Of Finance People's Republic Of China

Organizational structure

Organizational structure obtained from the Ministry of Finance website: *General Office *Policy & Programme Department *Legal Department *Tax Policy Department *Tariff Policy Department *Budget Department *Treasury Department *National Defense Department *Administrative & Law Enforcement Department *Education, Science & Culture Department *Economic Construction Department *Agriculture Department *Social Security Department *State Equity & Corporate Finance Department *Finance Department *International Department *Accounting Regulatory Department *Supervision Department *State Rural Development Office *Personnel & Education Department

Leadership

All of the leaders are members of the Ministry's Communist Party Committee, with

Lan Fo'an Lan Fo'an (; born June 1962) is a Chinese politician currently serving as governor of Shanxi. He is a member of the 19th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. He is a delegate to the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party ...

as its secretary.

List of Finance Ministers

As shareholder

The MOF also acted as the controlling shareholder for a number of financial service companies of China, such as

People's Insurance Company of China The People's Insurance Company (Group) of China Limited, known as PICC Group or just PICC, is a Chinese listed insurer. The Chinese Central Government is the controlling shareholder. The group contains the major subsidiaries: PICC Asset Managem ...

China Life Insurance Group China Life Insurance Group is a Chinese holding company for the Ministry of Finance. It is the parent company of the public traded company China Life Insurance Company. As at 31 December 2015, China Life Insurance Group also owned 4.22% stake in Chi ...

(parent of

China Life China Life Insurance Company Limited (short China Life, ) is a Beijing-headquartered China-incorporated company that provides life insurance and annuity In investment, an annuity is a series of payments made at equal intervals.Kellison, Step ...

), China Taiping Insurance Group (parent of

China Taiping Insurance Holdings China Taiping Insurance Holdings Company Limited (CTIH) formerly China Insurance International Holdings Company Limited (CIIH), is a Chinese insurance conglomerate. The company has strong Chinese Central Government background despite being incor ...

), etc. The Ministry also owned

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited (ICBC; ) is a Chinese multinational bank. Founded as a limited company on 1 January 1984, ICBC is a state-owned commercial bank. With capital provided by the Ministry of Finance of China, the ...

, the Agricultural Bank of China, the

Bank of Communications Bank of Communications Limited (BoComm) (; often abbreviated as ), is the fifth-largest bank in mainland China. Established in 1908, the Bank of Communications claims a long history in China and is one of the banks to have issued banknotes in mo ...

China Great Wall Asset Management China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

China Cinda Asset Management China Cinda Asset Management Co., Ltd. known as China Cinda or just Cinda is a Chinese merchant bank and asset management company. The corporation was founded as a state-owned enterprise and a bad bank for China Construction Bank in 1999. The ban ...

China Orient Asset Management China Orient Asset Management Co., Ltd. is a Chinese state-owned enterprise. The company is an asset management company and a merchant bank originated as a bad bank for the Bank of China. The bank received shares from debt-to-equity swap of no ...

China Huarong Asset Management China Huarong Asset Management Co., Ltd. known as just China Huarong () is a majority state-owned financial asset management company in China, with a focus on distressed debt management. It was one of the four asset management companies that the ...

and China Re, etc. MOF also owned

China Railway China State Railway Group Company, Ltd., doing business as China Railway (CR), is the national passenger and freight railroad corporation of the People's Republic of China. China Railway operates passenger and freight transport throughout Ch ...

China Tobacco The State Tobacco Monopoly Administration () or China National Tobacco Corporation ( commonly known as China Tobacco, CNTC) () is a Chinese government agency responsible for tobacco regulation and a state-owned manufacturer of tobacco products ...

and CITIC Group.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ministry Of Finance Of The People's Republic Of China Finance in China

Finance Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Ministries established in 1949 Government finances in China