As China intensifies austerity efforts amid economic reforms, the central government's spending on vehicles, overseas visits, official meeting and galas have reportedly reduced in comparison with last year.

An annual audit report released on Sunday shows that spending in the categories mentioned above has reduced by 27 percent. The National Audit Office arrived at the conclusion after conducting a random audit of 44 central government agencies for 2014.

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According to China Daily, the central government spent 5.88 billion ($950 million) on overseas travel, vehicles and reception in 2014 - 1.27 billion yuan less than the actual budget.  

Also, 3.6 billion yuan was spent on the purchase and maintenance of government vehicles, 1.6 billion yuan on overseas visits, while 661 million yuan was spent on official receptions.

Auditors also found out that about 780 billion yuan in land transfer funds were misappropriated by government officials in administrative expenses, or used in constructing new offices and venues.

Despite the campaign to cut spending and President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption crusade, graft and other bad working practices still thrive. According to Liu Jiayi, office of the auditor general, 33 central government groups were discovered to have hired vehicles from companies as their regular official vehicles.

The report also discovered that 10 central government corporation's including the Ministry of Commerce had asked other companies to fund their reception expenses, which amounted to 1.7 million yuan last year.

Several financial irregularities were also discovered in twenty-seven government agencies regarding the expenses for their meeting.

1,400 people have since been found guilty of corruption and a total of 314 instances of corruption were recorded last year.

China Business Review reports that in 2012 the government warned public officials against living extravagantly on public funds in a bid to control mismanagement and to ensure transparency.

Members of the Communist Party of China and the government were banned on May 1, 2013 from using foreign luxury cars. Brands like Bentley and BMW can no longer eligible to receive either military or police license plates unless they are registered as military equipment.

The government is reportedly planning to auction about 3,200 official vehicles withdrawn from service and expropriated last year.

On November 25, 2013, the central government - in a bid to curb the extravagant use of public funds - published a regulation that bans all strata of government workers from organizing receptions, galas and dinners with public monies.

The government went further to ban shark fin soup, wild animal products and bird's nest soup from all official dinners. High-end liquor and cigarettes were also prohibited from official dinners.

Xinhua reports that many Chinese officials use public funds for sight-seeing trips abroad, while masking them as official visits. Liu said Sunday that at least eight groups who went on official visit abroad had extended their stay after changing their approved itineraries.

He stated that a five-member delegation from Beijing's Palace Museum changed their approved travel plans while in Brazil and Chile. They also lied to auditors. 

TagsChina Government Spending, China anti-graft, China Economic Reforms, China National Audit Office