China's public budget expenditure hits record high

BEIJING - China's public budget expenditure reached a record high while revenue grew steadily, official data showed Wednesday.

Public budget expenditure totaled 22.0906 trillion yuan ($3.267 trillion) last year, up 8.7 percent year-on-year, while revenue rose 6.2 percent year-on-year to reach 18.3352 trillion yuan, according to the Ministry of Finance (MOF).

Education, social security and employment took the lion's share of public budget spending, while spending on debt interest payment and science and technology grew the fastest.

Tax revenue stood at 15.64 trillion yuan, up 8.3 percent year-on-year.

China's long-term steady economic growth will ensure stable fiscal revenue, although growth might slow down due to expected larger scale of tax and fee cutting, said Li Dawei, a senior MOF official.