China Cancels Officials’ Vacations to Recoup Losses Caused by Unrest

China canceled summer vacations Friday for all government and Communist Party workers nationwide, saying they need to make up for economic losses during the recent unrest and warning that those who flout the ban will be punished.

The order, carried by the Communist Party newspaper People’s Daily, was issued as an “urgent notice” by the party Central Committee and the State Council, China’s Cabinet, which oversees government agencies.

It came as the country’s finance minister, Wang Bingqian, warned of serious problems in the national budget and called for increased efforts to keep the budget deficit within its targets.

Wang said spending rose by 15.9% during the first five months of the year, twice as fast as revenue grew. He blamed rising costs of raw materials, poor management and a drop in economic efficiency in factories and other enterprises. Administrative expenses were budgeted to increase 2.5% during the period, but actually soared by 23.6%, he said.

The order canceling vacations except for national holidays applies to all government and party officials at national, provincial and local levels, and appeared to affect tens of millions of people.