Shenzhen will become the first city in the country to require
its public servants to use credit cards to pay for their work costs
in a bid to control rampant expenditure.
By June 2007, all public servants in close to 500 government
agencies under the municipal government will use the cards to pay
for public affairs expenditure, said municipal officials at a
launch ceremony Friday.
The specially designed credit cards, issued by the Bank of China
and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), should restrict
spending on public affairs through detailed and identifiable
bills.
The cards, with serial numbers beginning with 62 and containing
individual officials' personal information, will have a credit
limit of 50,000 yuan (US$6,250) per month and will not allow cash
withdrawal or credit transfers. Payment for office appliances,
business trip allowances, communication, meetings, training and
entertainment fees will all have to be made by credit card.
As the first of their kind in China, the credit cards will bear
the Citizens' Center and the icon of an ox, a symbol of the
municipal government's dedication to local citizens since the early
1980s, as a background picture.
Any governmental bureau or department still using cash after
June will undergo forced reform.
Vice Mayor Chen Yingchun said the measure would strengthen the
municipal government's fiscal management and supervision of
expenses on public affairs.
At present, public servants in Shenzhen pay such expenses with
cash and have these payments reimbursed with invoices approved by
revenue bodies.
(Shenzhen Daily December 4, 2006)