The national auditing authority prevented a potential loss of 310 billion yuan ($49 billion) in government funds – an amount equivalent to Slovenia's gross domestic product last year - caused by accounting irregularities and unnecessary public spending last year after it looked into 1,361 agencies and organizations across the country.

Liu Jiayi, head of the National Audit Office, said a series of audits that retrieved the loss cost 1.2 billion yuan of public money, meaning "Every yuan we spent on auditing work saved 256 yuan for the government."

Liu said his office focused on audits in pillar sectors including investigations into the books relating to government funds, finance, resources and environment and public welfare.

The office also found problems with violations of austerity rules and helped uncover huge public money that was siphoned off by corrupt government officials.

Since the beginning of this year, the office has intensified investigations into the use of State funds as part of an effort to implement the central government's economic policies and to ensure the effort to clamp down on corruption would not be thrown to the winds.