CHINA-ECONOMY: US$ 7.1 BILLION OF FUNDS LIE UNUSED IN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
China's National Audit Office found that 50.4 billion yuan ($7.1 billion) of funds local governments raised from new special-purpose bonds (SPBs) went unused last year, including 13.2 billion yuan that had been left idle for more than a year, after it examined the books of 18 provincial-level governments and 36 cities and counties. Hu Zejun, head of the audit office, delivered the findings on June 18 in a report to the NPC Standing Committee in Beijing. Some researchers attributed this phenomenon to a shortage of worthwhile projects and inefficient fund management by local governments.
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