The government saves money for the people and insists on living a tight life
The central government spends more transparently this year (Economic Focus)
Our reporter Qu Zhehan
"People's Daily" (10th edition on March 26, 2021)
Core reading
On March 25, 102 central government departments collectively disclosed their 2021 budgets to the public.
It is more open and transparent, fully responds to social concerns, and project expenditures are visible, measurable, and measurable.
The budget disclosure this time reflects that all central departments have implemented "to live a tight life and save resources for the people".
On March 25, 102 central government departments collectively disclosed their 2021 budgets to the public.
This year’s "Government Work Report" made it clear that the central government will continue to arrange negative growth in expenditures.
The 2021 fiscal budget report requires that “insist on the government’s tight life”, “strictly tighten the budget expenditure threshold, further reduce general expenditures, strictly review new fiscal expenditures, vigorously reduce or cancel inefficient and ineffective expenditures, and deeply tap the potential for saving expenditures. ".
What are the new changes in this year's central department budget disclosure work?
How can various departments reduce expenditures?
How to tighten the budget threshold?
Let's read this "account" carefully.
Implement budget reform requirements and make budget disclosure more comprehensive and specific
The departmental budget disclosed by the central government in 2021 includes the summary of departmental revenues and expenditures, the summary of departmental revenues, the summary of departmental expenditures, the summary of revenue and expenditures of fiscal appropriations, the general public budget expenditures, the general public budget basic expenditures, and the general public budget. Nine reports including the expenditure and expenditure table, government fund budget and expenditure table, and state-owned capital operating budget and expenditure table, comprehensively and truly reflect the overall situation of departmental revenue and expenditure and fiscal appropriation revenue and expenditure.
In addition to confidential information, general public budget expenditures are disclosed to the expenditure function classification item-level subjects, among which basic expenditures are disclosed to the departmental budget expenditure economic classification section-level subjects, and the transparency of budget disclosure is further improved.
In addition to disclosing the above-mentioned budget statements, the central departments also provide information on the increase and decrease in budget revenues and expenditures, the organization's operating funding arrangements, "three public" funds, government procurement, state-owned assets occupation, budget performance management, and items submitted to the National People's Congress for deliberation. Explain and explain more professional terms.
In addition, in accordance with the requirements of the implementation regulations of the Budget Law revised and implemented in 2020, this year 10 central departments disclosed state-owned capital operation budgets for the first time, and the central departments guided and urged their subordinate units to disclose their unit budgets steadily.
In order to enable the public to find, understand, and supervise, the departmental budgets of various departments will continue to be displayed on the "Central Budget and Final Accounts Disclosure Platform" set up by the Ministry of Finance's portal, in addition to being published on the department's website.
“Budget disclosure is the core requirement of the reform of the budget management system and an important content of government information disclosure. The disclosure of budget information is more comprehensive and specific, and plays an important role in realizing the modernization of the national governance system and governance capabilities.” said Bai Yanfeng, a professor at the Central University of Finance and Economics. Regarding the budget disclosure situation of various departments this year, the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed to "establish a fully standardized, transparent, scientifically standardized, and effective budget system" and the relevant requirements of the Budget Law Implementation Regulations have been effectively implemented, and various departments have increased the breadth and breadth of budget disclosure. In-depth, further expand the number of project disclosures, refine the disclosure content, promote the disclosure of project expenditure performance targets, proactively announce the hotspots and focus projects of public concern, and consciously accept public supervision.
To implement the requirements of overly tight days, and the budget is open to fully respond to social concerns
The budget disclosure this time reflects that the central departments have implemented "to live a tight life and save resources for the people".
For example, the 2021 budget of the Ministry of Finance's agency service expenditures fell by 51.54% compared with the previous year's implementation figures, and training expenditures fell by 40%; the State Administration of Radio and Television's administrative operating expenditures fell by 18.15%, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences' cultural, tourism, sports and media expenditures fell by 97%.
The "San Gong" expenditures are of concern to all sectors of society.
In 2021, a budget of 5.187 billion yuan will be allocated for the central government's "three public" funds, which is a decrease of 330 million yuan or 6% from the 2020 budget.
Among them, the cost of going abroad (border) for business was 674 million yuan, a decrease of 40 million yuan; the purchase and operation expenses of official vehicles were 4.268 billion yuan, a decrease of 311 million yuan; the official reception fee was 245 million yuan, a decrease of 15 million yuan.
Compared with 2020, this year’s central government departments’ "project expenditure" budget disclosures continue to increase-the disclosure content includes project overview, project basis, implementation subject, implementation plan, implementation cycle, annual budget arrangements, performance targets, etc.
“Under the impact of the epidemic, how the central government can take the lead and live tightly is a content of high concern among the people. In 2021, the central government's budgets will'reduce expenditures'. In addition, project expenditures are the'biggest head' of budget expenditures. Increasing the disclosure of project expenditure budgets will help urge all departments to improve budgeting, optimize expenditure structures, and increase the efficiency of fund use. It will also help concentrate fiscal funds to do major tasks, better serve the party and the country, and better protect basic people's livelihood." Bai Yanfeng said.
The use of project expenditure funds is visible, measurable and appraised
"Spending money must be effective."
In recent years, in accordance with the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, the Ministry of Finance has vigorously promoted the reform of the budget performance management of the central departments, basically achieving full coverage of the performance target management of the expenditures of the central departments, and significant progress has been made in the disclosure of performance targets.
In 2017, some central departments and their departmental budgets released the performance target tables for 10 key projects for the first time. By 2020, the number has increased to 109. In 2021, the central departments will disclose the performance target tables for 128 key projects.
Except for secret-related departments and secret-related information, each department shall disclose at least one first-level project performance target table.
For example, the National Health Commission has published the performance target table of the “2021 Public Health Service Capability Improvement Project”. From the table, it can be seen that the project has a budget of more than 1.44 billion yuan, and has “properly handled public health emergencies” and “completed major events”. Seven annual goals such as the prevention and control of chronic diseases, and 25 output or benefit and satisfaction indicators such as the development of cancer screening standards, the qualification rate of trainees, the coverage of emergency drills, and the satisfaction of technical service organizations. Quantify, "visible, measurable, and appraised" of the use of expenditure funds, which is conducive to public supervision, and the performance evaluation department's follow-up benchmarking "scoring".
The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Finance stated that by disclosing the performance targets of key projects, the "windows" for all sectors of the society to understand the performance of the government have been further opened, and the "task list, timetable, and effect map" of fiscal funds are clearly displayed, so that the public can be more direct. See where the fiscal funds are arranged and the expected effect of their use.
At the same time, it is also conducive to urging departments to implement performance responsibilities, improve efficiency awareness, promote fund-using units to strengthen management, and effectively improve the use of financial funds.
Bai Yanfeng believes that the scope of disclosure of key performance targets of the central government has been expanding year by year, and it can "under the above rate" drive the gradual expansion of the disclosure of local and national general project performance targets, promote the construction of a modern budget system, and truly spend financial funds on the blade. Proactive fiscal policies improve quality and efficiency, and improve the sustainability of fiscal operations.
"This year is the twelfth year for the central government to open its budget. After years of hard work, putting the operation of fiscal funds under the'magnifying glass' of the supervision of the whole society has achieved remarkable results, helping the governance of'promoting transparent government affairs and building a sunny government'. Accelerate the realization of the goal."