Fiscal revenue recovers in June

China's fiscal revenue showed signs of recovery as the growth in general public budget revenue returned into positive territory and stood at 5.3 percent year-on-year in June after deducting the impact of tax refunds, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday.

During the first half of the year, the national general public budget revenue came in at 10.52 trillion yuan ($1.56 trillion), up 3.3 percent year-on-year after excluding the impact of tax refunds. The growth was 0.4 percentage point faster than in the first five months of the year, the ministry said.

Xue Xiaoqian, deputy head of the ministry's treasury payment center, said the country's fiscal revenue recovered last month as efforts to combat COVID-19 outbreaks and stabilize the economy took effect.

"The economy is likely to see a continuous recovery in the second half of the year, helping fiscal revenue to see a gradual rally," Xue said.

Taking the decline in tax revenue brought by tax refunds into the consideration, the country's fiscal revenue fell by 10.2 percent in the first half, compared with a 10.1 percent drop during the January-May period.

China's fiscal expenditure stood at 12.89 trillion yuan in the first half, up by 5.9 percent from a year earlier, the same rate of growth seen in the January-May period, according to the ministry.