China's fiscal revenue down in January-May

BEIJING - China's fiscal revenue dropped 10.1 percent year-on-year during the first five months of this year, latest data showed.

The country's fiscal revenue amounted to about 8.67 trillion yuan ($1.3 trillion) during the period, according to the Ministry of Finance.

Excluding the impact of value-added tax (VAT) credit refunds, fiscal revenue grew 2.9 percent from a year earlier.

The central government and local governments collected 4.05 trillion yuan and 4.62 trillion yuan in fiscal revenue, down 11.4 percent and 8.9 percent, respectively.

Tax revenue came in at 7.25 trillion yuan in the January-May period, down 13.6 percent year-on-year.

Fiscal spending rose 5.9 percent year-on-year to 9.91 trillion yuan in the first five months.

In 2022, tax refunds and cuts are expected to be about 2.5 trillion yuan, of which VAT credit refunds will account for some 1.5 trillion yuan, all of which will go straight to enterprises, according to the country's government work report.