Government and Policy

NPC conducts fiscal inquiry

By Zhu Zhe (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-06-25 06:25

BEIJING - The country's top legislature on Thursday conducted an unprecedented fiscal inquiry on State Council officials, in a bid to improve supervision of the central government.

Senior officials from the Ministry of Finance and National Audit Office, divided into six groups, attended group discussions of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee and answered questions ranging from local government debts to further reforms of fiscal and taxation systems.

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The discussions marked the first time the legislative body conducted such an inquiry and was carried out strictly in line with the law, said Li Fei, deputy director of the NPC Standing Committee's legislative affairs commission.

Both the Supervision Law and Budget Law authorize legislators to inquire and interrogate government officials.

Committee members were able to ask random questions during previous legislative

sessions, when they were unclear about a certain issue in State Council reports, Li said.

Government officials who attended the meetings would be able to provide brief answers, he said.

"But it was never conducted in such an organized and focused way," Li said.

"It's an active exploration of improving supervision over government work."

Such a move was also in response to the committee's annual work report made by its chairman Wu Bangguo this March, Li said.

"Inquiries and interrogations are legal means for people's congresses to oversee governments, courts and procuratorates," Wu said in the report.

"This year, we will select a number of widely concerned issues and hear reports on those issues from State Council departments. Major officials from those departments will be required to listen to suggestions and respond to inquiries and interrogations," Wu said.

The Ministry of Finance delivers a report on last year's fiscal situation to the NPC Standing Committee every June, according to its work schedule.

To better supervise and urge relevant authorities to improve their budget work and management, the committee decided to conduct its first special inquiry on the fiscal report, said Gao Qiang, director of the budgetary affairs commission of the NPC Standing Committee.

Most questions legislators raised on Thursday morning were common problems existing in the country's fiscal management system, Gao said.

"For example, they were concerned with how the 924.3 billion yuan ($135.8 billion) in central government funds last year were spent, and what the effects were," he said.

Gao said some of the questions could have been considered harsh, but it showed that legislators were taking the issues seriously.

Vice-Minister of Finance Liao Xiaojun, who attended Thursday's inquiry, said the ministry values the inquiry.

"Many committee members have made very constructive suggestions on our work," he said.