BEIJING - Chinese audit agencies have recovered losses or trimmed superfluous expenditures totaling 1.2 trillion yuan ($196.1 billion) in the past 30 years, according to the National Audit Office (NAO) on Sunday.

Thirty years after the founding of China's audit system, audit bodies now become a major force to fight corruption and push for reform, said Liu Jiayi, auditor general of the NAO on Sunday.

Last year, every yuan spent on audit work saved 116 yuan for the country, he said.

Liu said China is one of the few countries in the world which has started to carry out economic accountability audits of government officials.

Such audits supervise and evaluate how officials manage and utilize public funds, national resources, state capital and social funds which fall into their jurisdiction.

China has so far audited nearly 500,000 officials, including 215 at ministerial or provincial levels, Liu said. 18,000 officials have been demoted or removed from office after audits.