China's social security funds safe after audit

BEIJING -- China's social security funds are stable and operating safely, auditors said Wednesday.

The National Audit Office audited 18 types of social security funds, finding that total revenues increased to 2.84 trillion yuan ($450.8 billion) last year, while expenditures went up to 2.11 trillion yuan.

The social security system has seen improvements and provided stable expectations for consumers, NAO officials said at an executive meeting of the State Council, or China's cabinet, presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao.

The NOA said it did find problems concerning the weak implementation of insurance policies and the misuse of funds by a handful of people and organizations.

According to a statement issued after the meeting, auditors were asked to make special efforts to find funding problems related to affordable housing, medical services, school enrollment, housing demolition and environmental protection.

They were also told to enhance budget management by creating more transparency, adding that flaws that are corrected must be reported to the State Council by the end of October.