According to yearly budget estimates from local governments, Chinese provinces spent at least 352 billion yuan ($51.6 billion) on COVID-19 containment in 2022, placing an additional burden on provincial finances in a year of sluggish economic growth.
Guangdong, the southernmost province with the largest economy in China, spent 71.14 billion yuan on medical personnel subsidies, PCR testing, and immunizations last year. The amount, which was the highest of the 20 provincial economies, increased by 56.8% from COVID-related spending in 2021 and was more than twice as high as spending in 2020.
At least 20 of China's 31 provinces, regions, and municipalities have revealed the amount of money they will spend in 2022 battling the pandemic, with wealthy provinces spending the most. This increased the economic powerhouse's overall counter-pandemic spending to 146.8 billion yuan over the previous three years.
The state-run Xinhua News Agency said that "it has become difficult to eliminate the coronavirus, and the social costs and price of COVID prevention and control were rising" when China reopened its borders on Jan. 8 after adhering to a tight "zero-COVID" regime for three years.
The financial difficulties faced by local governments have been made worse by declining state property sales revenue as well as China's slow growth, low tax collection, and onerous COVID-19 limitations.
Jiangsu, an eastern coastal province with the second-largest economy in the nation, spent 42.3 billion yuan last year-28 times more than in 2021-to combat the pandemic.
Shanghai, the country's commercial center, spent 16.77 billion yuan fighting COVID-19, including medical care, the building of temporary hospitals, and the procurement of medical equipment. Shanghai's lockdown in April and May of last year hurt the country's economy.
Beijing, which experienced two significant COVID-19 outbreaks last year, reported spending almost 30 billion yuan on prevention and control and an estimated 32.77 billion yuan in public health expenditures for 2023, with an emphasis on ensuring the smooth functioning of medical services and people's health.
Prior to COVID-19's suspension of international travel, China was the greatest market for outbound tourism, with foreign tourists spending US$255 billion in 2019. Chinese citizens, who had been cut off from the outside world for three years due to strict restrictions, flocked to travel and online booking websites in advance of the opening of the borders.
The market anticipates Beijing to implement additional relaxing measures to significantly boost the industry, particularly during or after the eagerly anticipated annual parliament gathering beginning in early March.
