Central government reveals its spending in 2011
Source: Xinhua |
July 20, 2012, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE central government yesterday unveiled how public money was spent, with 98 government departments and public institutions publishing their expenditure online for the second year.
According to the figures, central government departments spent 9.36 billion yuan (US$1.48 billion) on receptions, vehicles and overseas trips, also known as "the three public consumptions," last year, using funds allocated by the central authorities.
About 2 billion yuan was spent on overseas trips, 5.9 billion yuan on the purchase and maintenance of vehicles, and about 1.5 billion yuan on public receptions.
The central authorities plan to budget 7.98 billion yuan for central government departments and public institutions to spend on the three items this year.
The 1.38 billion yuan reduction is due to the exclusion of such expenditure by the armed police, the Ministry of Finance said.
"Compared with last year's brief reports, the statements on public consumptions by central government departments were more detailed this year, marking another step forward in improving transparency," said Liu Jianwen, a law professor at Peking University.
Liu viewed the publicizing of government spending as a breakthrough in the country's fiscal system.
"It is also a major measure to reform the political system," he said.
Many central government departments included more items in their revenue and expenditure reports this year, such as the number of people traveling overseas and newly purchased vehicles.
Some departments, however, gave only obscure explanations for their spending, with some relevant figures omitted, such as the number of staff taking overseas trips.
"Putting everything in the sunshine is the best way to fight corruption," Liu said.
Administrative costs, which cover wages, allowances and bonuses, and office and travelling expenses, rose 1.42 percent year on year to 89.97 billion yuan among central government departments and public institutions last year.
"Even though the government has made progress in publicizing information, we still fail to live up to the public's expectation," said Bai Jingming, deputy director of the Research Institute for Fiscal Science with the finance ministry. "We need time to build an improved and transparent budgetary system."
According to the figures, central government departments spent 9.36 billion yuan (US$1.48 billion) on receptions, vehicles and overseas trips, also known as "the three public consumptions," last year, using funds allocated by the central authorities.
About 2 billion yuan was spent on overseas trips, 5.9 billion yuan on the purchase and maintenance of vehicles, and about 1.5 billion yuan on public receptions.
The central authorities plan to budget 7.98 billion yuan for central government departments and public institutions to spend on the three items this year.
The 1.38 billion yuan reduction is due to the exclusion of such expenditure by the armed police, the Ministry of Finance said.
"Compared with last year's brief reports, the statements on public consumptions by central government departments were more detailed this year, marking another step forward in improving transparency," said Liu Jianwen, a law professor at Peking University.
Liu viewed the publicizing of government spending as a breakthrough in the country's fiscal system.
"It is also a major measure to reform the political system," he said.
Many central government departments included more items in their revenue and expenditure reports this year, such as the number of people traveling overseas and newly purchased vehicles.
Some departments, however, gave only obscure explanations for their spending, with some relevant figures omitted, such as the number of staff taking overseas trips.
"Putting everything in the sunshine is the best way to fight corruption," Liu said.
Administrative costs, which cover wages, allowances and bonuses, and office and travelling expenses, rose 1.42 percent year on year to 89.97 billion yuan among central government departments and public institutions last year.
"Even though the government has made progress in publicizing information, we still fail to live up to the public's expectation," said Bai Jingming, deputy director of the Research Institute for Fiscal Science with the finance ministry. "We need time to build an improved and transparent budgetary system."
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
