developed, poorer inland regions. According to UN estimates in 2007, around 130 million people in China—mostly in rural areas of the lagging inland provinces—still lived in poverty, on subsistence wages of less than $1 a day. About 35% of the Chinese population lives under $2 a day. In the medium-term, economists state that there is ample amount of potential for China to maintain relatively high economic growth rates and is forecasted to be the world's largest exporter by 2010. Urbanization in China and technological progress and catch-up with developed countries have decades left to run. But future growth is complicated by a rapidly aging population and costs of damage to the environment. China launched its Economic Stimulus Plan to specifically deal with the Global financial crisis of 2008–2009. It primarily focused on increasing affordable housing, easing credit restrictions for mortgage and SMEs, lower taxes such as those on real estate sales and commodities, pumping more public investment into infrastructure development, such as the rail network, roads and ports. These effort both helped stabilize the global economy and also provided an opportunity for China to retool its own infrastructure. Continued economic growth during the crisis increased China's confidence in its model of development and convinced elites that the global balance of power was shifting. China increased its standing as a responsible global actor during the crisis. Major natural disasters of 2008, such as the 2008 Chinese winter storms, the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, and the 2008 South China floods mildly affected national economic growth but did do major damage to local and regional economies and infrastructure. Growth rates for Sichuan dropped to 4.6% in the 2nd quarter but recovered to 9.5% annual growth for the whole of 2008. Major reconstruction efforts are still continuing after the May 12 earthquake, and are expected to last for at least three years. Despite closures and relocation of some factories because of the 2008 Summer Olympics, the games had a minor impact on Beijing's overall economic growth. The Chinese economy is significantly affected by the 2008-9 global financial crisis due to the export oriented nature of the economy which depends heavily upon international trade. However, government economic-stimulus has been hugely successful by nearly all accounts. Corporate income tax (CIT): The income tax for companies is set at 25%, although there are some exceptions. When companies invest in industries supported by the Chinese government tax rates are