China to step up audit of overseas investments by state-owned firms

[BEIJING] China's National Audit Office said on Thursday that it will strengthen efforts to audit overseas investments by state-owned firms and step up audit of state assets held overseas.

The move will "help safeguard the safety of overseas state-owned assets and promote firms' ability to operate internationally and their ability to prevent risks", Liu Jiayi, the head of the country's audit office, told a national meeting.

In a bid to support the weakening yuan, Beijing has recently announced a string of measures to tighten controls on money moving out of the country, including closer scrutiny of outbound investments.

From January to November, China's non-financial outbound direct investment soared 55.3 per cent to US$153.96 billion from a year earlier.

Mr Liu also pledged to step up audit of China's financial regulators and financial institutions, focusing on the implementation of monetary policy, credit flows, internet finance and cross-border capital flows, to help prevent financial risks.

The audit office will also monitor capacity cuts in some industries and reductions of property inventories, as well as debt reductions in major enterprises, Mr Liu said.

Mr Liu also vowed to step up audit of key public projects, fiscal revenues and expenditures, and local government debt.

REUTERS