Lawmakers' power to review extended

Legislators' powers of review and supervision are to be extended to budget expenditures and related policies, according to a guideline from the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

"The extension is aimed at strengthening and improving the legislatures' review and supervision over budgets in accordance with the law, and is an important measure to establish and perfect the budgetary review process and supervisory system with Chinese characteristics," it said.

"By strengthening the people's congresses' supervision of budget expenditures and policies, the guiding and constraining effects of policies on related budgets will be enhanced," the guideline said, adding that measures would also help ensure that the CPC Central Committee's major principles, policies and decisions could be better implemented.

It said that in the past, the focus on government budget review and management, as well as legislators' review and supervision, was limited to the size of deficits and achieving balance between budgeted revenue and expenditure - an arrangement that lacked focus on the details of budget expenditures, policies and the efficient use of fiscal funds.

Xinhua