Local people’s congresses strengthen government debt supervision beforehand, and supervision of the whole process is the focus

Local people’s congresses strengthen government debt supervision, with prior intervention and full-process supervision as the focus

　　In order to prevent and control the risk of local government debt, the central government issued a document this year calling for strengthening the review and supervision of government debt by local people’s congresses. The General Office of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress will issue relevant specific implementation opinions in the near future. The CBN reporter learned that some provincial and municipal people’s congresses have already begun drafting. Relevant documents to strengthen supervision of local government debt.

　　Recently, the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the "Opinions on Strengthening the Review and Supervision of Government Debt by the Local People's Congress" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"), to promote the improvement of the draft final accounts of the government budget and the content of government debt in the report, and to regulate the review and supervision of government debt by the National People's Congress. The content and procedures of the NPC, strengthen the supervision of government debt risk management and control by the People’s Congress, and strengthen organizational guarantees.

This is another important document of the Party Central Committee on strengthening the review and supervision functions of the National People's Congress budget and final accounts since 2015. It is also an important step in strengthening the supervision of local debts.

　　Diao Yijun, Director of the Office of the Budget Working Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, publicly stated in an interview with the media that the Budget Working Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress is drafting the "Implementation Opinions on Promoting the Implementation of the "Opinions on Strengthening the Review and Supervision of Government Debts by Local People's Congresses". , Which will be issued by the General Office of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress after being approved in the near future.

　　At present, China's local government debt risks are generally safe and controllable.

However, due to the impact of the epidemic last year, local government debt increased significantly, and the debt ratio was approaching the 100% warning line.

According to data from the Ministry of Finance, as of the end of July this year, the balance of local government debt across the country was 279,091 billion yuan, which was controlled within the limit approved by the National People's Congress.

In the past few years, the hidden debts of local governments have grown rapidly, and their large scale has also increased risks.

　　In order to prevent and control the risk of local government debt, the scale of local government debts has dropped for the first time this year. The central government requires that local government’s hidden debt risks be resolved. The penetrating supervision of local government special bonds, the financing of local government financing platform companies has been tightened, etc.

The strengthening of supervision of local debt by local people's congresses is also a key step in preventing and controlling local debt.

　　The reporter learned from public news and interviews in some places that many provincial and municipal people's congresses are already studying the "Opinions" and discussing relevant implementation plans.

The National People's Congress is about to make substantive steps in strengthening the supervision of local debt.

　　Lin Zhiyun, deputy director of the Standing Committee of the Tianhe District People’s Congress of Guangzhou City and second-level inspector, told Yicai.com that recently, the Tianhe District People’s Congress of Guangzhou City has added a local government debt information section in the written analysis report of the local budget network supervision. The latest government debt data can be grasped in a more timely and comprehensive manner to strengthen supervision.

　　The “Opinions” strengthened the disclosure of government debt information in the preparation of government budget final accounts. For example, the compilation of special debt tables in the draft government budget should reflect the income, expenditure, and repayment of special government bonds at the same level in the previous year. The situation of principal and interest and special income reflects the scale, maturity, interest rate, principal and interest of the project at this level.

　　Previously, some of the government debt issues submitted to the National People’s Congress for deliberation only involved the scale of debt, the repayment period, and the method of repayment. The details of the use of funds, the cost of funds, the source of repayment funds, and the expected benefits are often vague. However, the opacity of debt information has made it difficult for the National People's Congress to review and supervise debts, and with the implementation of the "Opinions", this problem has been solved.

　　Lin Zhiyun said that if the local people's congress is to really give full play to the budget review and supervision of government debt and other budgets, it must be involved in advance so that deputies have sufficient time to conduct in-depth investigation and review of relevant government projects, otherwise it will be too late.

To do this, it is inseparable from participatory budget review and supervision.

　　He introduced that before 2013, the local people's congress reviewed the government budget. Due to the limited duration of the conference and the large number of agendas, supervision was often a "movement."

In order to change this situation, the local area explored participatory budget review, that is, the people's congress intervenes in advance to review the draft government budget and departmental budget, and organizes the people's congress deputies to participate in the review when the government department budget is prepared, so that the budget preparation is more scientific and reasonable.

　　In addition, in order to prevent and control debt risks and improve the investment efficiency of major projects, Tianhe District has long made it clear that new construction projects with a financial investment of more than 30 million yuan and construction projects with a budget of more than 10 million yuan investment projects must be submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. Deliberate.

　　"Major investment projects need to be submitted to the National People's Congress for deliberation. This creates an additional line of defense against government projects, preventing the government from borrowing at will, paying more attention to the cost-effectiveness of debt-raising projects, making government debt-raising more transparent, transparent, scientific and standardized." Budget ability, Lin Zhiyun said.

　　In addition to early intervention in strengthening supervision of local debt, local people's congresses also need to develop the whole process of people's democracy and implement the whole process of supervision.

This is also a major requirement of the "Opinions".

　　Local government debt funds often have a relatively large amount of funds, and the construction period of the projects invested is relatively long. It is obviously insufficient to monitor the budget approval process alone, and real-time monitoring in the operation of the project is also required.

　　According to the "Opinions", local people's congresses at all levels and their standing committees will standardize working procedures, improve working mechanisms, and carry out full-process supervision around the review and approval of government budget drafts, budget adjustment plans, final accounts drafts, and budget implementation supervision.

　　Lin Zhiyun said that the review of government budgets such as local government debts should be monitored throughout the entire process and closed-loop management should be done.

In recent years, we have integrated the local finance bureau, national taxation, local taxation, development and reform bureau, and audit bureau to form a networked budget monitoring platform. The powerful monitoring methods formed have made fiscal budget disclosure a reality.

In the budget network supervision system, a participatory budget review and supervision module is set up, which can intuitively understand which opinions and suggestions are put forward by representatives during the review process and which are adopted.

　　"Whether it is participatory budgeting or budget network supervision, the core thing is to implement comprehensive performance management of government funds, knowing where government money comes from, how to allocate, use, and the efficiency of capital use, and the core of using money is to spend money. Ask the effect." Lin Zhiyun said.

　　Local official data show that the general public budget revenue of Tianhe District in 2020 is 7.62 billion yuan.

At the end of 2020, the debt balance of the whole district government was 200 million yuan, and the debt ratio was only 1.2%, which was far lower than the national level.

　　Lin Zhiyun told CBN that the debt ratio of Tianhe District is very low, which is related to the local attention to establishing a modern fiscal system and the government's careful use of leverage. Of course, it is also related to the local People's Congress's strengthening of investment project supervision and strengthening of budget openness and transparency.

　　At present, some localities are also actively promoting participatory budgets or the "three review system" of budget review.

Some places, including Tianhe District, further promote participatory budgeting.

For example, in Tianhe District, 47 departments and 6 projects have carried out the review of budget preparation, budget execution and final accounts, forming corresponding closed-loop supervision.

　　Author: Chen Yikan