Financial data of Chinese cities opaque, report

The transparency of financial information disclosed by city governments in China is still poor, according to the latest report on 285 cities and four municipalities.

Only 46 cities and municipalities gained a score of over 100 points on a 400-point assessment system, shows the report by a research group at Tsinghua University.

Three cities, including Baicheng, Jilin Province, Tongren, Guizhou Province and Dingxi, Gansu Province, are rated zero, indicating that they have never published any financial information.

Yu Qiao, a professor from the School of Public Policy and Management of Tsinghua University, who leads the research group, said the scores of zero shows leaders in the three cities paid little attention to financial disclosures.

Indicators weighted for the score includes budgets, government debts and State-owned assets and State-owned enterprises.

Compared with the information disclosure among provincial-level governments, the disclosures of those cities reflect more about the actual situation of financial transparency in the country, Yu told reporters Tuesday.

Among the top 30, 10 cities are from Guangdong Province and five from Anhui Province. Shanxi, Guizhou and Guangxi also have three cities each.

The report also pointed out the shortcomings of local governments in disclosing such information, noting that when general budget and final settlements were published, no information on how the money was used was mentioned.

It added that almost no financial information of other government-supported institutions has been made public.

"Local governments should learn from listed companies to release information to all stakeholders. The critical point of governing a modern country relies on the transparency of political affairs, democratic accountability and the rule of law," Yu said.

It is the second time the university has published such a report. In its 2012 report, 81 cities were included.