Billions misused in China 2024 stimulus, from flood controls to gym equipment, audit finds
The revelation – resulting from an assessment of the central government's budget execution last year, as well as of other fiscal revenues and expenditures in 2024 – was spelled out in a report submitted by National Audit Office auditor general Hou Kai to the top legislature last week.
For the country's key stimulus package, featuring subsidies for large-scale equipment renewals and consumer goods trade-ins, nearly 20 billion yuan (US$2.8 billion) was fraudulently claimed or misappropriated, according to the disclosed data report.
This includes nearly 3.8 billion yuan that was fraudulently claimed under the programme last year. For example, Xiamen University applied and got approval for 1.7 million yuan for new treadmills and barbells for its gymnasium in the name of 'advanced teaching and tech equipment'.
Meanwhile, more than 15 billion yuan was misused during implementation, the report said, with four provinces using 7.06 billion yuan to cover basic public spending – from civil-service wages to essential social welfare – or other unrelated projects, and six provinces falsely recording 8.3 billion yuan as spent. Some enterprises were also involved in subsidy fraud, it added.
The funding came from 1 trillion yuan worth of
ultra-long-term special government bonds that Beijing issued in 2024, with 700 billion yuan allocated for equipment upgrades and 300 billion yuan for trade-in consumption.
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