China's fiscal revenue down 1.6% in first two months

BEIJING - China's fiscal revenue dipped 1.6 percent year-on-year to nearly 4.39 trillion yuan ($611.59 billion) in the first two months of the year, according to data from the Ministry of Finance released on Monday.

The central government collected nearly 1.95 trillion yuan in fiscal revenue, down 5.8 percent year-on-year, while local governments collected nearly 2.44 trillion yuan, up 2 percent year-on-year.

China's fiscal expenditure expanded by 3.4 percent year-on-year to nearly 4.51 trillion yuan in the first two months. The central government's fiscal expenditure rose by 8.6 percent year-on-year, while there was a 2.7 percent increase in expenditure by local governments during the same period.

In breakdown, education expenditure hit 737.7 billion yuan, up 7.7 percent year-on-year, science and technology expenditure exceeded 112.2 billion yuan, a 10.6 percent year-on-year increase, and expenditure on social security and employment hit 854 billion yuan, up 6.7 percent year-on-year.