China’s Q1 fiscal revenue growth stable

CHINA posted stable growth in its fiscal revenue in the first quarter of 2018, official data showed, adding to evidence of a solid economy.

The fiscal revenue rose 13.6 percent year on year to 5.05 trillion yuan (US$805 billion) in the January-March period, the Ministry of Finance said at a press conference on Wednesday.

Ministry official Lou Hong attributed the increase mainly to strong tax revenue, as businesses saw better performance amid a solid economy in the first three months. Revenues rose 28 percent in consumption tax, 21.1 percent in commercial value added tax and 14.4 percent in import tax.

Business and individual income taxes rose 11.7 percent and 20.7 percent respectively.

Lou expects fiscal revenue growth to moderate in the coming months but will remain steady.

During the first quarter, fiscal spending rose 10.9 percent year on year to 5.1 trillion yuan.

China has pumped more money into reforms, poverty relief, environmental protection and education to address unbalanced development since the start of the year, ministry official Wang Xinxiang said.

Government expenditures soared 76.8 percent on forest protection, 58 percent on poverty relief, 47.5 percent on applied research, 38.3 percent on agriculture, and 13.7 percent on basic pension fund. The central government will also boost fiscal support for less-developed areas to improve people’s livelihood, Wang said.

With the economy on a firm footing and fiscal revenue increasing, China cut its fiscal deficit target to 2.6 percent of GDP for 2018, down by 0.4 percentage points compared with 2017, the first drop since 2013.