On the Budgetary Supervision of Local People's Congress in China

Strengthening the budgetary supervision of the local People's Congress is essential not merely to the deepening of budgetary reform but also to the improvement of the People's Congress system and socialist democracy. Budgetary supervision by the People's Congress comprises three elements: information, dialogue and enforcement. A national questionnaire survey based on these three elements shows that with the deepening of budgetary reform, the budgetary supervision of the People's Congress has undergone a shift from procedural to substantive oversight. Nevertheless, it still faces a number of challenges at local level. In the forthcoming reforms, budgetary supervision by the People's Congress should be strengthened to make local governments more accountable to the people.