Central departments issue budgets to public
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Chinese ministries began in early April to issue their budget plans for the year to meet a goal of giving the public a glimpse into their finances, even though critics might contend the budgets fall short of providing enough detail.
The publications marked the second release of budget plans by nearly every ministry and came in response to the central government's demand for more transparency in local government spending.
By Tuesday, both the Ministry of Finance and the State Food and Drug Administration had used their official websites to reveal their budget plans. And more ministries are expected to publish their budgets in coming days.
On Friday, the Ministry of Finance went online to post its budget plan for the year, a document containing more detail than was released in 2010.
According to a balance sheet included in the disclosure, the ministry plans to spend 2.6 billion yuan (US$395 million) in 2011, up 6 percent from the past year.
Of the money to be spent, 72.6 percent will be appropriated by the central government, according to the sheet.
The plan also showed that the ministry will spend 61.3 million yuan to run offices, and that 5.1 percent of that money will be appropriated by the central government.
The ministry's 2010 budget did not provide details about such spending.
On Saturday, the State Food and Drug Administration disclosed in its budget plan that it will spend 805 million yuan this year.
But the disclosure offered fewer details than were printed in the Ministry of Finance's budget plan.
Meanwhile, the budget plans of both departments remained mum about spending on official vehicles, receptions and overseas trips, which always elicits concerns from the public.
And transparency is not a concern of the central government alone.
Departments within the municipal government of Beijing, for their part, have done much to release budgets replete with details.
In March, the Beijing government departments disclosed plans to spend about 40 million yuan on new official vehicles this year.
"The central government departments should study Beijing authorities' practices and try not to hide detailed spending plans," said Zhu Lijia, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Governance. "The public expects complete transparency."
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