Centralized procurement by the Chinese government has helped save close to 2 billion yuan (about 290 million U.S. dollars) in 2009, an official said Thursday.

The Chinese government spent more than 14.7 billion yuan in government procurement last year, Chen Jianming, director with the government procurement center said during a work conference held in Beijing.

The figure was 1.8 billion yuan more than in 2008, he said.

Chen noted that Chinese government departments had made "remarkable" progress in reducing their expenditures in 2009.

For instance, the amount of money spent on purchasing vehicles by the government departments in 2009 dropped by 35 percent year on year, he said.

They also spent two percent less in government procurement for work conferences compared with the year before, he said.

Chen said the government purchases will continue to focus on energy-efficient, environment-friendly, as well as innovative and domestic products in 2010.

The procurement center would stick to the policies of protecting information security and supporting small and medium-sized companies when making purchases, in order to push forward the development of the country's industries and the readjustment of its economic structure, Chen said.