Era of increased spending ends

New measures curb procurement budget amid tighter scrutiny

Government procurement may have peaked last year as tougher regulations mean that huge increases in public expenditure are a thing of the past, a government official said.

The procurement budget will stay around 20 billion yuan ($3.22 billion), an amount similar to the 20.5 billion budget for 2012, said Wang Lida, director of the Central Government Procurement Center.