Spending details on trips, cars and meals wanted

Beijing has stepped up its push for transparent government spending, requiring central to local government agencies to publicly disclose spending on foreign trips, official cars and often lavish lunches and dinners.

Premier Wen Jiabao said when delivering his government work report to the National People's Congress in March that the government should disclose more budget details and 'let the people know how much money it has spent and what it has been spent on'.

By mid-April, only one ministry had disclosed its expenditure on trips, cars and meals - often seen by the public as officials' perks.

A State Council statement issued after its meeting yesterday said: 'Budget transparency work is not balanced and detailed enough. There remains a gap with what the public expects.

'[We] must advance budget transparency and improve the disclosure mechanism by including more areas and disclosing more details.'

In the statement, the State Council said that the central government and its ministries must reveal to the public how much they spent on official cars, overseas trips and government banquets last year and how much they plan to spend this year.

Local governments will now have to follow suit and make public the budget approved by the local people's congress and release details of government spending on the three items.