Central govt cuts public expenses

BEIJING - China's central government will spend less on overseas visits, vehicles and receptions, popularly known as the "three public consumptions," this year amid the country's frugality campaign, said the Ministry of Finance (MOF) on Friday.

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The central government will use 7.151 billion yuan (about $1.148 billion) on such items in 2014, slightly down from last year's actual spending of 7.154 billion yuan, the MOF said.

The budget includes 1.976 billion yuan for traveling overseas, 4.127 billion yuan for the purchase and maintenance of government vehicles and 1.048 billion yuan for official receptions, according to the MOF.

According to the budget, the central government will spend 161 million yuan less on official receptions, and 126 million yuan less on purchase and maintenance of government vehicles.

Spending on overseas visits will increase by 284 million yuan from what was actually spent on this area in 2013.

This year's budget was also 818 million yuan, or 10.3 percent, less than that of 2013, said the MOF.

In 2013, the central government spent 815 million yuan less than its original budget on the "three public consumptions."

A senior official of the MOF's budget department attributed the cut-backs mainly to the implementation by central government departments of austerity rules put forward by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

In December 2012, the newly elected CPC Central Committee issued the "eight-point rules," requiring government officials to strictly practice frugality and clean up undesirable work styles, including formalism and extravagance.

 

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