Queries as ministry budgets go public
By Wang Xiang |
April 2, 2010, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
FOUR Chinese ministries have for the first time publicly announced their budgets for the year, a total of 28 billion yuan (US$4.10 billion) between them.
And they have immediately been urged by a senior statistician to lift both transparency and clarity.
He said taxpayers wanted and deserved full details of where their money went.
The Ministry of Science and Technology has easily the biggest allocation, with an expenditure budget of 21.25 billion yuan for 2010.
It was followed by Land and Resources (3.47 billion yuan), Finance (2.45 billion yuan) and Housing and Urban-Rural Development (843 million yuan).
Only the Ministry of Science and Technology has offered a comparison with last year's total expenses, showing a 2.6 percent rise.
The budget figures were divided into sub-sections big on sounding important but lacking in clear fiscal descriptions, the statistician said.
Housing funds
Members of the public deserved a more transparent view as these ministries were spending their money, said Ye Qing, head of the statistics bureau of Hubei Province.
Ye told The Beijing Times yesterday the open-budget debuts were "confusing for the public and disappointing."
He said the most unclear breakdown in the budgets was the funds allocated to government departments to buy houses.
"It was predictable that people would have issues with this housing-fund breakdown when so many are feeling the pinch of rocketing home prices," Ye said.
The Ministry of Land and Resources earmarked 136 million yuan, the highest single allocation among the four, for its department employees to buy real estate.
Ye questioned the lack of itemized salary details for staff and hiring plans.
Finance Ministry issued a 12-sheet budget last week to the central government, which, in part, estimated that personal taxation would rise by 17.5 billion yuan this year.
A ministry spokesman said then that the budget was easy to read and "not too bureaucratic" in its language.
Though not satisfied, Ye said the first step in opening up government budgets was a good start.
He said more transparent and professional budget plans were inevitable with time.
And they have immediately been urged by a senior statistician to lift both transparency and clarity.
He said taxpayers wanted and deserved full details of where their money went.
The Ministry of Science and Technology has easily the biggest allocation, with an expenditure budget of 21.25 billion yuan for 2010.
It was followed by Land and Resources (3.47 billion yuan), Finance (2.45 billion yuan) and Housing and Urban-Rural Development (843 million yuan).
Only the Ministry of Science and Technology has offered a comparison with last year's total expenses, showing a 2.6 percent rise.
The budget figures were divided into sub-sections big on sounding important but lacking in clear fiscal descriptions, the statistician said.
Housing funds
Members of the public deserved a more transparent view as these ministries were spending their money, said Ye Qing, head of the statistics bureau of Hubei Province.
Ye told The Beijing Times yesterday the open-budget debuts were "confusing for the public and disappointing."
He said the most unclear breakdown in the budgets was the funds allocated to government departments to buy houses.
"It was predictable that people would have issues with this housing-fund breakdown when so many are feeling the pinch of rocketing home prices," Ye said.
The Ministry of Land and Resources earmarked 136 million yuan, the highest single allocation among the four, for its department employees to buy real estate.
Ye questioned the lack of itemized salary details for staff and hiring plans.
Finance Ministry issued a 12-sheet budget last week to the central government, which, in part, estimated that personal taxation would rise by 17.5 billion yuan this year.
A ministry spokesman said then that the budget was easy to read and "not too bureaucratic" in its language.
Though not satisfied, Ye said the first step in opening up government budgets was a good start.
He said more transparent and professional budget plans were inevitable with time.
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