China is expected to set up a special industrial fund to boost its poverty reduction efforts, according to sources attending a symposium on the sustained development in the country's poverty-stricken areas.

The poverty reduction fund was proposed by the China Association for Poverty Alleviation and Development, but there's no timetable yet as to when it will be launched, said the association's vice president Tian Ruizhang.

Tian said their application has been submitted to the government and is being reviewed.

"China has made great achievements in poverty reduction but the biggest obstacle in this endeavor is lack of fund," he told the ongoing symposium in Tianjin.

Between 2001 and 2005, China's central coffer arranged 57.2 billion yuan (US$7.15 billion) of poverty relief fund, with an annual increase of 6.45 percent.

"This is utterly insufficient for the huge poverty-stricken population, which stood at 23.65 million in the rural areas at the end of last year," Tian told Xinhua in an exclusive interview Sunday.

Nor is there enough fund from China's financial institutions, he said. "None of the four big state-owned commercial banks has a branch in the needy areas."

An industrial fund for poverty reduction purposes would therefore be an effective way to raise funds for the benefits of the poverty-stricken population and the investors alike, as it is expected to yield higher returns, said Tian.

(Xinhua News Agency May 15, 2006)