China's fiscal revenue up 5.3% in August

BEIJING - China's fiscal revenue climbed 5.3 percent year-on-year in August to reach 1.2 trillion yuan ($177.54 billion), official data showed Friday.

In the first eight months, fiscal revenue totaled 12.68 trillion yuan, down 7.5 percent year-on-year, narrowing from a decline of 8.7 percent in the first seven months, according to data by the Ministry of Finance.

Tax revenue in the January-August period fell 7.6 percent from a year earlier to reach 10.82 trillion yuan. Revenue from value-added tax, the largest fiscal revenue source of the country, fell 15.2 percent year-on-year.

A breakdown showed the central government collected nearly 5.93 trillion yuan in fiscal revenue during the eight-month period, down 10.1 percent year-on-year, while local governments saw fiscal revenue drop by 5.1 percent to about 6.75 trillion yuan.

Friday's data also showed the country's fiscal spending fell 2.1 percent from a year earlier to nearly 15 trillion yuan during the eight-month period.

In August, fiscal spending expanded 8.7 percent year-on-year as local governments stepped up implementation of major projects, the ministry said.