"Three public consumptions" drop

The central government spent 5.88 billion yuan (about $950 million) on the "three public consumptions" -- overseas travel, vehicles and reception -- last year, down 1.27 billion yuan from the budgeted figure, Lou said in his report.

The minister said that the decreases were mostly the result of an ongoing frugality campaign, the downsizing of official delegations traveling overseas and more rigorous management of vehicles and receptions.

The "eight-point rules" requiring officials to be frugal and to clean up bad work styles have seen unregulated spending gradually ebb.

The government's plan to auction nearly 3,200 vehicles expropriated last year had also helped.

But bad practice persists, China's top auditor Liu Jiayi told Sunday's session of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee.

After auditing 44 central government departments and 303 institutions, auditors found that management of receptions, vehicles and trips was still lax.

Liu said eight groups sent abroad had changed their approved itineraries and extended their stays. In particular, a five-member delegation from Beijing's Palace Museum altered their travel plans in Chile and Brazil without consent and lied to the auditors.

About 10.6 million yuan was spent illicitly on public vehicles, and 11 million yuan on overseas trips.

Zhu Zhongfa, a member of the NPC Standing Committee, said when deliberating the report Sunday afternoon that although the public funds should be strictly controlled, some people in the sicentific circle complained that the time for overseas exchanges are too short. He suggested related departments make changes in a bid to improve academic exchanges results.