A new credit card that is tailored for public servants has been issued to employees of two government departments in an attempt to make spending more transparent and reduce corruption.

The first batch of the cards, co-issued by the Bank of China and China UnionPay, were given to employees of the Shanghai Foreign Affairs Office and the Shanghai Municipal Exchange and Cooperation Office.

"The cards will streamline the reimbursement procedure for civil servants who spend on duty," said Fan Xiangyu, an official from the Bank of China. "More crucially, they will help boost budget supervision and counter corruption."

Government employees, especially those on business trips, often spend their own money on work-related items and later file an expense report. Some officials pad their expense reports with invoices for personal goods, a practice the cards were designed to stop.

The new card allows people to spend as much as they like and the government pays the bill later, making every transaction clear. Fan, however, didn't say how many public servants received the cards yesterday or how many are expected to get them in the future.

In May, nine government agencies, including the People's Bank of China, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Ministry of Public Security, issued a circular promoting the use of bank cards among government bodies at all levels to strengthen budget controls and clean up government.

"This special credit card does facilitate our business trip spending, but it is not completely accepted throughout the country," said an official surnamed Wang of the Shanghai Foreign Affairs Office.

He expressed his hope the card will become more widely accepted so that government officials will be able to use them on all business trips.

(Shanghai Daily December 21, 2005)