Jin Renqing, minister of finance, briefed officials of six governmental departments on China's fiscal policies Friday.

The six departments were the Department of Publicity of Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, Work Committee of Departments under CPC Central Committee, Work Committee of Central Government Departments under CPC Central Committee, Ministry of Education, Chinese PLA General Political Department, and CPC Beijing Municipal Committee.

Jin said fiscal policy is an important tool for the state to control the economy. "As long as fiscal policy conforms to economic development, it will play a positive role, whether the policy is expansionary or tight," he said.

The central government has decided to carry out a prudent fiscal policy, which can be summed up to four points, he said.

"The first one is to control the deficit. That means the central government wants to send a message of the direction of macro-control to the public, that is, to prevent more symptoms of inflation and the emergence of deflation, by cutting down the deficit in the central budget," Jin said.

This year, the deficit of the central budget is 300 billion yuan, 19.87 billion yuan less than 2004.

The second point is to adjust the structure of budgetary expenditures and treasury bond funds. The country should invest more in weak fields such as agriculture, environmental protection, public health and education.

The third point is to continue the reform in the structure of the economy. The fourth one is to increase income and decrease expenditure to improve the efficiency of using money.