BEIJING - Sales revenue of home appliances in rural China last month surged 179 percent year-on-year to 34.48 billion yuan ($5.3 billion), boosted by a nationwide subsidy program for rural consumers, official data showed Wednesday.

In March, 14.7 million subsidized home appliance units were sold to rural consumers, up 135 percent from the same period last year, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said in a statement on its website.

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Sales in the first three months reached 36.3 million units, with sales hitting 85.8 billion yuan, it said.

As of March 2011, the Chinese government issued 37.6 billion yuan in subsidies to rural home appliance buyers, which then spurred the sale of 327.4 billion yuan, or 150 million units, of new home appliances in rural China.

China introduced the subsidy program in 2009 to stimulate rural consumption amid the economic slowdown.

Under the program, Chinese farmers could receive subsides equal to 13 percent of the price of designated home appliances, including refrigerators, televisions, washing machines, computers, air conditioners, mobile phones, water heaters, microwave ovens and traditional ovens.