Premier needs to make progress in tackling bloated bureaucratic budget
Congress Briefing
When Premier Wen Jiabao pledged on Sunday to push ahead with economic reforms, he highlighted the reform of administration and government functions as key initiatives.
'The process of transforming government functions is behind schedule, and efficiency is low. Some government employees engage in fraud, some are extravagant and wasteful, and some are even corrupt,' Mr Wen said.
Explaining the next five-year plan yesterday, he promised to work hard to build a clean government and combat corruption. He said the central government would launch a campaign this year to combat bribery in business, 'focusing on unhealthy practices in construction, land transfers, property transactions, purchase and sale of pharmaceuticals, and government procurement'.
Last year, the mainland had 87,000 protests, demonstrations and other 'mass incidents'. One common cause was officials abusing their power for personal gain or colluding with businessmen to make illegal gains at the expense of others, as in the mushrooming cases of rural land disputes.
The media and many deputies attending the NPC and CPPCC sessions in Beijing see one solution as cutting the number of civil servants and curbing expenses.
The China Youth Daily yesterday quoted a survey as saying that just more than two-thirds of mainlanders believed Beijing should cut the number of civil servants and streamline the bureaucracy.
It quoted an economist as saying China had 39 civil servants for every US$1 million of gross domestic product, compared with 2.31 civil servants per US$1 million of GDP in the US.
Ren Yuling, a CPPCC delegate and an adviser to the State Council, told official media yesterday that the budget for running the government was 87 times bigger in 2003 than in 1978. In 2003, administrative expenses accounted for 19.03 per cent of total national expenditure, compared with Japan's 2.38 per cent and 9.9 per cent in the United States.
Mr Ren, who made similar appeals last year, once again urged the leadership to cut bureaucracy and save money for the urgent needs of education and health.
He made headlines last year when he revealed the government spent 300 billion yuan a year to cover officials' transport costs, 200 billion yuan on entertainment costs and 250 billion yuan on overseas trips. The central government's total agricultural investment planned for this year, designed to benefit 800 million farmers, is just 339.7 billion yuan.
'We have many sectors where we need to spend money such as medical care, education, and less developed areas. This requires the party and government departments to take the lead and curb their expenses,' he said.
Let's hope Premier Wen reads Mr Ren's proposals this time and puts them into action.
