Government departments at all levels in Fujian province spent an estimated 682 million yuan to buy and use cars, travel overseas and host meetings in 2014, according to an official budget report.

It represents a decrease of 5.9 percent year-on-year after Fujian implemented more strict controls on what is collectively known as the “three public expenses”.

At the same time, Fujian earmarked 242 billion yuan, up 1 percent, from its fiscal revenue to boost people’s livelihood projects last year.

The numbers are disclosed in an annual government budget report delivered to the third session of the 12th Fujian Provincial People’s Congress on Jan 29.

The gross general budget revenue in Fujian amounted to 383 billion yuan in 2014, surging by 11.6 percent from the previous year and surpassing the original target by 0.6 percentage points. The government funds were mainly spent on agriculture, social security, employment, healthcare, education, housing security, energy conservation and transportation, the figures showed.

Fujian’s budget revenue for 2015 is expected to go up by 10 percent year-on-year to 431 billion yuan, with expense added in from people’s livelihood causes, especially with social security expected to rise, too.

Meanwhile, Fujian will continue to promote frugality across government departments by cutting their budgets by 5 percent in general; and more of them will release their budgets to the public, according to the plan.