HEADS of government agencies have been required to sign their names on the draft budget plans of their respective agencies starting this year, the city’s finance commission said Wednesday.

    They will be held responsible for any problems related to the budget reports, the commission said after releasing a budget implementation report for 2014 and an annual budget plan for 2015 Wednesday.

    According to the report, the general revenue in Shenzhen reached 208.27 billion yuan (US$34 billion) last year. Meanwhile, expenses on education, health care, social welfare and employment accounted for 68.1 percent of all expenditure.

    Public expenditure on government vehicles, receptions and overseas trips decreased by 1.8 percent compared to 2013 because of stricter rules on spending public funds.

    For 2015, the government set a target revenue of 245.7 billion yuan with an increase of 18 percent compared to last year.

    The 2015 budget will focus on public transportation, ecology development and construction of infrastructure.

    The budget also means 90 billion yuan for social welfare and development of social organizations, representing 29.6 percent of the total expenditure.

    The financial committee in Shenzhen approved this year’s budget report with a more comprehensive explanation on each item.

    The 2013 annual budget was criticized by Wang Fuhai, a member of the National People’s Congress, in the two sessions of 2013.

    Wang criticized that the 2013 budget report had limited information and was difficult to understand. He suggested the financial committee include more detailed information on each item.

    A spokesperson said they increased the report from over 1,000 pages to 2,000 pages this year in an attempt to fully explain the plans. (Zhang Qian)