THE city spent a total of 277 billion yuan (US$41 billion), accounting for 64.7 percent of the city’s total fiscal expenditure, on the improvement of livelihood, including education, health care and employment, in the year 2018.

The expenditure in education reached 58.4 billion yuan, an increase of 14.8 percent over the previous year. A total of 22,000 school slots for kindergartens and 63,000 public school slots were added, according to Tang Shukui, director of the city’s finance commission, at a news conference Monday.

The city spent 28.1 billion yuan, a 15.3 percent year-on-year increase, to build seven hospitals that offer 2,555 beds and 39 community clinics, as well as the introduction of 57 medical teams.

The city made breakthroughs in water treatment, construction of a sewage network and replacing old and used vehicles with new energy vehicles.

The city’s fiscal revenue reached 910.2 billion yuan (US$131.88 billion) in 2018, an increase of 5.5 percent over the previous year. The data means the per square kilometer fiscal revenue generated in the city reached 460 million yuan in 2018, ranking it first among Chinese cities.

In 2019, the city will continue spending on health care, education and transportation infrastructure. The city will spend 30.8 billion yuan on education and 15.4 billion yuan on health care. The construction of Xinhua Hospital, Shenzhen No. 2 Children’s Hospital, Dapeng Hospital and Shenzhen Blood Center No. 3 Information Center will be expedited.

(Richard Han)