Business news for Sun, 23 Dec 2007 & with words government+major. 3 news.

CHINA is promising to give farmers subsidies for purchasing household electric appliances in a bid to stimulate the sluggish rural consumption and reduce the rising trade surplus. A pilot program will initially be launched in the three major agricultural provinces of Shandong, Henan and Sichuan, where farmers who buy color TV sets, refrigerators and mobile phones can get subsidies worth 13 percent of the prices, the Ministry of Finance said on Saturday. A total of 197 types of the three categories, especially produced for the rural markets, would be available from this month through May next year, and air conditioners and washing machines would be included in the future, Zeng Xiaoan, an official with the ministry, said. So far, the government has signed cooperative deals with 15 household appliance makers and 21 dealers. "The move is meant to give farmers more benefits and divert more government expenditure into the consumer sector from fixed asset investment and

CHINA should take measures to cool economic growth and cut energy consumption, an official with the National Development and Reform Commission said. "Current economic growth, 11.5 percent or above 11 percent, is too fast and at too high a cost," Han Yongwen, the planning agency's secretary general, said at a conference in Beijing on Saturday. The world's fourth largest economy grew by more than 11 percent through the first three quarters of 2007, Bloomberg News said. Chinese government is trying to cool growth in the world's fastest-growing major economy without triggering a sudden slowdown that may cost jobs and leave factories idle. Japanese companies including Toyota Motor Corp urged China in September to slow the pace of its expansion on concern overheating in Japan's biggest trading partner may cause economic turmoil. "The central bank should use interest rate policies more boldly to damp investment expansion and asset price increases," Lin Yifu, head of

CHINA is promising to give farmers subsidies for purchasing household electric appliances in a bid to stimulate the sluggish rural consumption and reduce the rising trade surplus. A pilot program will initially be launched in the three major agricultural provinces of Shandong, Henan and Sichuan, where farmers who buy color TV sets, refrigerators and mobile phones can get subsidies worth 13 percent of the prices, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. A total of 197 types of the three categories, especially produced for the rural markets, would be available from December 2007 through May next year and air conditioners and washing machines would be included in the future, Zeng Xiaoan, an official with the ministry, said. So far, the government has signed cooperative agreements with 15 household appliance makers, including Haier, Hisense and Changhong, and 21 dealers. "The move is meant to give farmers more benefits and divert more government expenditure into the