BEIJING -- Chinese authorities Thursday started a targeted inspection on the use and management of poverty relief funds in 28 provinces and regions.

The check, headed by the Ministry of Finance and the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, aims to uncover any irregularities in this high-government invested initiative.

For the past four years, China has allocated 196.1 billion yuan (about $28.5 billion), representing annualized growth of 19.22 percent, according to Mo Jiancheng, an inspector under the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

The inspection, mainly targeting money allocated in 2015 and 2016, will last until the end of June.

China brought 12.4 million people in rural areas above the poverty line in 2016, and there were still 43.35 million people living in poverty at the end of last year.

According to a government work report delivered at the annual parliamentary session earlier this month, China aims to reduce the number of rural residents living in poverty by over 10 million in 2017, including 3.4 million to be relocated from inhospitable areas.

To this end, central government funding for poverty alleviation will be increased by over 30 percent, according to the report.