Government-by-Government Assessments: People's Republic of China
During the review period, the government made its enacted budget and end-of-year report accessible to the general public, including online, but it did not publish an executive budget proposal before enactment of the budget. Information on debt obligations was publicly available but not always complete or up to date. The government does not publish reliable figures for foreign assistance and international commercial and concessional lending. Budget documents did not identify financial allocations to or earnings from state-owned enterprises, and not all significant, large state-owned enterprises controlled by the central government had publicly available audited financial statements nor did they disclose their debt holdings. The supreme audit institution does not meet international standards of independence, but it did review the government’s accounts and make audit reports publicly available within a reasonable period of time. The criteria and procedures by which the national government awards contracts or licenses for natural resource extraction were specified in law and regulation. The government generally appeared to follow applicable laws and regulations in practice. Basic information on natural resource extraction awards was publicly available. Sovereign wealth funds disclosed their sources of funding but not their general approaches to withdrawals. PRC’s fiscal transparency would be improved by:
- publishing executive budget proposals ahead of the budget’s enactment;
- providing timely and complete information on debt obligations;
- detailing debt holdings as well as financial allocations to and earnings from state-owned enterprises in the budget or other public documents;
- publishing audit reports for significant, large state-owned enterprises;
- ensuring the supreme audit institution that meets international standards of independence; and
- disclosing general approach to withdrawals for sovereign wealth funds.