The cabinet sets a timetable
In order to curb extravagant public spending, the State Council, set a deadline of March 23 for central government departments to further compress their spending on the "three public consumptions" and to publicize their budgets in June.
MOST in April released its 2011 expenditures on these three items, which amounted to 40.18 million yuan, becoming the first department to publicize its budget on the three items.
On May 4, The State Council, again urged the Party and government departments to make their financial information public in more areas and provide greater details within the released information, especially in regards to using funds for overseas trips, vehicle purchases, and official receptions.
China's Minister of Finance, Xie Xuren, said on June 27 in his report to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress that all of the country's 98 central government departments will unveil their expenses for this year, which will include expenditures for the "three public consumptions," and last year's related expenditures, making departments' expenditures on the "three public consumptions" the top legislature's special review for the first time.
So far, except for the MOST and the CAE, other departments have failed to disclose their budgets.
9 billion spent on 'three public consumptions' in 2010
According to statistics from the Ministry of Finance, about 9.47 billion yuan was spent on the "three public consumptions" by the nation's central government departments in 2010.
Spending on vehicle purchases and maintenance totaled 6.17 billion yuan and spending on overseas trips and receptions were registered at 1.77 billion yuan and 1.53 billion yuan, respectively, last year, the Ministry said on July 4
In addition, the central government's administrative overheads stood at 88.71 billion yuan in 2010, according to the statement.
It is the first time that such spending by central government departments has been officially disclosed.
Experts: disclosing expenses helps public supervision
Experts say the disclosure of Party and government departments' expenditures on the "three public consumptions" will help citizens to exercise supervision over the government.
Wang Xixin, professor at the Law School of Peking University, told Xinhuanet in May that the move will boost the transparency of information about government financial spending, adding that making government budgets and financial accounts public had been the objective of China's public fiscal reform.
"If the ‘three public consumptions' were left unrestrained, funds available for other matters would lessen and the government's credibility would be undermined," said Wu Zhongmin, professor at the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.
Meanwhile, experts also urged local government departments to publish their own budgets with information on these three items.
