Nation set to meet fiscal budget target

China will achieve annual goals in its fiscal budget this year despite a possible slowdown in the government’s revenue growth in the next three months, an official from the Ministry of Finance said on Monday.

In September, fiscal revenue was 1.27 trillion yuan ($192 billion), up by 9.2 percent year-on-year, compared with the 7.2 percent growth in August.

The fiscal expenditure rose to 2.02 trillion yuan last month, a year-on-year increase of 1.7 percent, slowing from 2.9 percent in August, according to the ministry.

By the end of last month, 80.6 percent of the fiscal budget’s revenue target and 71.3 percent of expenditure have been achieved, supported by a stabilized economic growth momentum, said Lou Hong, director-general of the ministry’s Treasury Department.

As a result of the price hike in manufactured products and an improvement in industrial enterprises’ profitability, fiscal revenue growth has accelerated in the third quarter, said the official.

“Since policies to cut taxes and reduce fees will continue to be implemented in the coming months, fiscal revenue may increase at a slower rate in the fourth quarter, but the whole year’s budget will be achieved,” said Lou.

Tax income, which accounted for 84.32 percent of the total fiscal revenue of 13.41 trillion yuan in the first three quarters, rose by 12.1 percent year-on-year, 1.2 percentage points higher than in the first half, according to the official data.

Due to the fast growth of house sales in the first half, tax income from the real estate sector surged 15.1 percent from January to September, the ministry showed.

Zhang Xiaolei, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the slower growth of fiscal revenue in the coming months may extend the fiscal deficit and it will push the government to increase borrowing by issuing more treasury bonds.

Total fiscal expenditure in the first three quarters reached 15.19 trillion yuan, or at a year-on-year growth rate of 11.4 percent, driving up the total fiscal deficit to 1.78 trillion yuan from 920 billion yuan in the first half.

Expenditure on technology research and development rose by 31.5 percent from January to September, while that for controlling pollution surged 51.7 percent during this period, the ministry showed.