Recently CNN.co.jp reported the following:
中国・広東省、「ゼロコロナ政策」に３年で２．８兆円支出
2023.01.17 Tue posted at 19:45 JST
香港（ＣＮＮ） 中国の地方政府の多くが、新型コロナのパンデミック（世界的大流行）の対策に充てた巨額の費用について明らかにしている。国営メディアはかねて、同国による「ゼロコロナ政策」からの突然の転換について、コストの増大が主要な理由との見方を示唆していたが、そうした報道を裏付ける状況となっている。
今月８日、中国は国境を再開し、新型コロナを重大な感染症として扱う管理体制を公式に格下げした。新華社通信は同日の記事の中で、指導部がコロナ政策に対する認識を変更した主要な理由に言及。「コロナウイルスの撲滅が困難であること、コロナ予防と感染抑止に投じる社会的コストが上昇していること」を挙げた。
国内最大の経済規模を有する広東省は、２０２０年からの３年間でパンデミックの予防と抑止に計１４６８億元（約２兆８０００億円）を費やした。１３日に公表された省の予算報告書で明らかになった。これらの資金は新型コロナ検査やワクチン接種、数多くの政策執行に関連する支出に充てられた。コロナ以外の医療費は含まれていない。
この３年間、コロナ関連の支出は毎年５０％ずつ跳ね上がり、昨年は最高額の７１１億元に達した。これは省の研究開発費の３５％に相当する。
首都北京は１５日、コロナの予防と抑止に昨年３００億元近く費やしたと発表した。２０年比で１４０％の増加となる。同市は２１年のコロナ関連費用を明らかにしていない。
広東省と隣接する福建省は２２年、パンデミック対策に前年比５６％増の１３０億４０００万元を投入した。先週発表した省政府の予算の中から分かった。過去３年間の当該の支出は、３０５億元となっている。
中国本土で最も富裕な上海は昨年４～５月にロックダウン（都市封鎖）を余儀なくされた。大手半導体メーカーが工場を構える市内の松江区は昨年、コロナ関連の費用が４４億５０００万元に達したのに対し、医療費は３６億２５００万元にとどまった。
中央と地方政府を合わせた昨年１～１０月の財政赤字は６兆６６００億元。１年前から３倍近い水準に膨れ上がった。ＣＮＮが中国政府財政部のデータに基づいて算出した。エコノミストらが試算した昨年通年での赤字額は過去最高となる１０兆元だった。
Translation
Hong Kong (CNN) - Many of China's local governments revealed billions of dollars had been spent on fighting the coronavirus pandemic. State media had long suggested that rising costs were the main reason for the country's abrupt shift from its "Zero coronavirus" policy, and such suggestions supported the situation now being reported.
On the 8th of this month, China reopened its borders and officially downgraded its management regime of treating the new coronavirus as a serious infectious disease. In an article on the same day, the Xinhua News Agency cited the main reasons why the leadership changed its perception on the corona policy. It said, "It is difficult to eradicate the coronavirus, and the social cost of preventing and controlling the spread of the virus is rising."
Guangdong, the country's largest economy, spent a total of 146.8 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) on pandemic prevention and containment in the three years from 2020. This was revealed in the ministry's budget report released on the 13th. These funds were used to pay for COVID-19 testing, vaccination, and a number of policy enforcement-related expenditures. Non-corona medical expenses were not included.
Over the past three years, coronavirus-related spending had jumped by 50% each year, reaching a peak of 71.1 billion yuan last year. This was equivalent to 35% of the province's R&D expenditure.
The capital, Beijing, said on Thursday that it spent nearly 30 billion yuan on coronavirus prevention and control last year. This represented an increase of 140% compared to 2020. The city had not disclosed coronavirus-related costs for 2021.
In 2022, Guangdong's neighboring Fujian province spent 13.04 billion yuan on pandemic fights, up 56% from the previous year. This was made known in the provincial government's budget announced last week. The relevant expenditure in the past three years amounted to 30.5 billion yuan.
Mainland China's richest city, Shanghai, was forced to go into lockdown in April-May last year. In the city's Songjiang district, where a major chip maker had factories, coronavirus-related costs reached 4.45 billion yuan last year, while medical expenses stood at 3.625 billion yuan.
The fiscal deficit of the central and local governments in total for the period from January to October last year amounted to 6.66 trillion yuan. It had nearly tripled from a year ago. CNN made the calculations based on data from China's Ministry of Finance. Economists estimated a record high deficit of 10 trillion yuan for the full year.
So, the
main reasons why the CCP leadership changes its corona policy is that it is
difficult to eradicate the coronavirus, and the social cost of preventing and
controlling the spread of the virus is too high to bear. In my dictionary "social cost" could have a lot of meaning.
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