China will reform its troubled public finance sector over the next three years through a more efficient electronic information system, Chinese Finance Minister Jin Renqing said on Monday.

The new measures are aimed at eliminating corruption and Jin believes that the information system - the country's first Government Finance Management Information System (GFMIS) - will improve efficiency, reliability and transparency, making it more difficult for individuals to abuse their own power.

Jin said China plans to set up the GFMIS in three years in order to make better use of public money and improve the management of State-owned assets.

The project, which was listed last April by the State Development and Reform Commission as a State-financed program, will cover 4 trillion yuan (US$500 billion) in fiscal expenditure, 1 trillion yuan in non-tax fiscal and treasury bond revenues, and 6 trillion yuan in assets of government departments and institutions. Jin did not reveal how much the project will cost.

The ministry began designing the information system in 1999 and it was listed in early 2002 by the Chinese Government as one of the government's 12 E-projects.

The ministry's computer system is now connected to that of 36 finance departments of provincial governments or cities, 132 departments of the central government and the central bank.

(Xinhua News Agency August 15, 2006)