Analyzing fiscal growth

An explanation about China's faster-than-expected tax revenue growth is much needed now. But a break-up of tax revenues collected in the first half of the year alone, as published by the Ministry of Finance during the weekend, still leaves some questions unanswered.

According to the Ministry's statistics, the country's fiscal revenue reached 3.48 trillion yuan in the first six months, up 33.3 percent from the same period last year, while fiscal expenditure grew 27.7 percent to 2.29 trillion yuan.

Double-digit growth in tax revenues was nothing new to the Chinese economy that has expanded by more than 10 percent in the past five years. However, while the national economy is undergoing a gradual slowdown, it is unusual that the country's tax revenues are growing even faster.