BEIJING – China’s fiscal revenue rose 4.7 per cent in the first half of 2026 from a year earlier, the finance ministry said on July 22, an acceleration from growth of 4 per cent seen in the January-May period.
Fiscal revenue totalled 12.1 trillion yuan (S$2.32 trillion) in the January-June period, the data showed, with tax revenue growing 5.3 per cent year on year and non-tax revenue expanding 2.3 per cent.
Fiscal expenditure increased 1.5 per cent year on year in the first half to 14.3 trillion yuan, picking up pace from a 0.8 per cent gain in the first five months, the data showed.
China will implement a proactive fiscal policy and support effective investment and consumption, finance ministry official Tang Zaifu told a press conference on July 22.
China’s economy expanded at its slowest pace in more than three years in the second quarter as sluggish consumption overshadowed strong manufacturing and exports.
China’s revenue from government land sales tumbled 31.5 per cent to 977.8 billion yuan in the first half of 2026, worsening from a 28.7 per cent drop in the January-May period.
Local governments in China have traditionally depended heavily on sales of land-use rights to developers for revenue. However, a prolonged real estate downturn since mid-2021 has severely strained such income.
China will strengthen the management of local government debt and speed up the allocation of funds, another official Zhao Zeyong told the press conference.
He added that local governments had issued special bonds worth 2.07 trillion yuan in the first half, accounting for around 47 per cent of the annual quota. REUTERS
