Poverty Alleviation Fund Audit

China has toughened its audit of poverty relief funds to ensure the effective use of hundreds of millions of dollars each year in its latest effort to deliver the promise of wiping out poverty by 2020.

National auditors found misuse of funds totaling 3.98 billion yuan ($600 million) in 145 poor counties last year after a three-month audit since January, down 1.6 percent from 2016.

There were lingering problems including ineffective policy implementation, weak fund management, and slow progress in anti-poverty projects, according to the National Audit Office (NAO).

Idle funds still existed. Some 223 million yuan ($33.8 million) of funds designed to support agriculture in poor regions have been put aside for more than two years in 39 counties, and 670 million yuan ($101.5 million) of funds have remained unused for more than one year.

China earmarked more than 140 billion yuan ($21.2 billion) for poverty relief last year, with more than 60 percent coming from the central budget. report polled more than 90,000 recent university and college graduates.

Zhu Xiaowei, a graduate of China Foreign Affairs University, chose to work for a media company even though he was admitted to a postgraduate program at the same institution.

“Good offers seldom come twice,” he said. “To work for an established company instead of furthering my studies or starting my own business will help me become more competitive in the job market and more financially self-reliant.”

Zhu added, “In the increasingly complex and changing job market, graduates are more cautious in planning their careers.”

China is expected to have approximately 8.2 million higher