China's fiscal revenue down by 5.3%

BEIJING - China's fiscal revenue totaled about 16.95 trillion yuan ($2.59 trillion) in the first 11 months of this year, down by 5.3 percent year-on-year, official data showed on Tuesday.

The decline narrowed from a fall of 5.5 percent in the first 10 months, according to data from the Ministry of Finance.

Tax revenue between January and November fell by 3.7 percent from a year earlier to 14.42 trillion yuan. Revenue from value-added tax, the largest fiscal revenue source of the country, fell by 10.2 percent year-on-year.

A breakdown showed the central government collected nearly 7.82 trillion yuan in fiscal revenue during the 11 months, down by 9.2 percent year-on-year, while local governments saw fiscal revenue dipping by 1.7 percent to about 9.13 trillion yuan.

Tuesday's data also showed the country's fiscal spending grew by 0.7 percent from a year earlier to nearly 20.78 trillion yuan during the period, with expenditure on social security and employment logging a 10.9 percent year-on-year increase.