China fiscal revenue picks up

BEIJING - China's fiscal revenue rose 5.9 percent year on year to 1.54 trillion yuan ($225.5 billion) in October, faster than the 4.9 percent rise in September, official data showed Monday.

The pick up in pace was partly due to strong growth in tax revenues, which rose 7.2 percent in October, compared with a drop of 0.7 percent in September, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement.

The ministry attributed the tax revenue growth to the recovery of economic indicators, and a low comparison base with the same month in 2015.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics Monday showed that industrial output rose 6.1 percent year on year in October, up from 5.6 percent in October 2015.

Central government collected 796.3 billion yuan in fiscal revenue in October, up 9.9 percent year on year, while local governments saw revenue up 4.2 percent to 739.6 billion yuan.

In the first 10 months, fiscal revenue rose 5.9 percent year on year to 13.68 trillion yuan, the ministry said.

Last month fiscal spending dropped 12.5 percent to 1.18 trillion yuan, bringing total expenditure in January-October to 14.78 trillion yuan, up 10 percent year on year.

In the face of continued economic difficulties, China has made supply-side reform an economic priority, and also cut taxes to lower business costs, which has put added pressure on revenue growth.

To cushion the blow from sluggish revenue growth, and balance the need for proactive fiscal policies to support growth, China plans to increase its deficit-to-GDP ratio to 3 percent this year, up from 2.3 percent last year.