Economy

Markets

Industries

Insights

Reports

Events

Fiscal revenue expected to exceed 6 trillion yuan in 2008

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-01-05 16:39

China's 2008 fiscal revenue is expected to exceed 6 trillion yuan ($857 billion), Finance Minister Xie Xuren told a national conference on Monday.

This represented a 19 percent year-on-year increase, in a contrast with a 32.4 percent growth in 2007.

The country's fiscal revenue increase started to decline in the second half of 2008 because of economic slowdown, corporate profits decline and tax cuts to boost growth amid the global financial crisis, Xie said.

He expected the downward trend to continue in 2009, which would make it "a difficult fiscal year" marked by falling revenue growth and surging expenditure.

The central government has decided to carry out an active fiscal policy and a moderately loose monetary policy in 2009. It has unveiled a four trillion-yuan economic stimulus package to boost growth through enhancing domestic demand.

The country's fiscal revenue rose 20.5 percent year-on-year to 5.8 trillion yuan in the first 11 months in 2008. The expenditure also increased in the first 11 months, up 23.6 percent to nearly 4.6 trillion yuan.

Fiscal revenue dropped 3.1 percent in November 2008 from a year earlier.

In October, the country reported 532.9 billion yuan in fiscal revenue, down 0.3 percent year-on-year, the first decline in 12 years.

According to Xie, reform and development in rural areas would be one of the government's major tasks in 2009. Financial support will be reinforced for farmers, agricultural production and rural areas this year.

The central budget has channeled 102.77 billion yuan in subsidies for farmers in 2008, more than doubled from a year earlier.

The government will continue to optimize the structure of fiscal expenditure this year, spending more money to improve people's quality of life, Xie said.

The country's fiscal expenditure on education is expected to reach 158.2 billion yuan in 2008, up 47 percent from 2007, while that on medical and healthcare will increase 25.5 percent year-on-year to 83.36 billion yuan. A forecast 276.16 billion yuan is spent to improve social welfare and employment last year, increasing nearly 20 percent.

The government would also spend more money to help boost employment this year, he said.