China gov't procurement totals $179b in 2011

BEIJING -- China's government procurement amounted to 1.13 trillion yuan ($179.37 billion) in 2011, or 11 percent of the country's fiscal expenditure, the Ministry of Finance announced on Friday.

The figure showed a huge expansion from the 100.9 billion yuan of 2002, when a government procurement law was first adopted, Vice-Minister of Finance Wang Baoan said at a ceremony celebrating the 10th anniversary of the law's introduction.

The implementation of the law has helped save 660 billion yuan in fiscal spending over the past decade, according to Wang.

The vice minister said the government will push administrative reforms to make its purchase more transparent, fair and effective, while improving related operations and supervision systems to promote the credibility of government procurement.

He also pledged to further restructure government procurement mechanisms in accordance with the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) rules, to gradually open the sector.

The GPA is a voluntary pact within the World Trade Organization that allows member countries to bid for public contracts in each other's markets.

China entered its first offer to join the pact in 2007, but it was turned down as the offer did not include local governments' spending.