China's 2011 fiscal deficit at 650b yuan

China's fiscal deficit stood at 650 billion yuan ($102 billion) in 2011, 50 billion yuan less than the budgeted amount, the nation's annual financial report showed on Wednesday.

The fiscal income of central government amounted to more than 5.1 trillion yuan?-- 112 percent of the target?-- the report showed. Expenditure was 104 percent of the budget at 5.6 trillion yuan.

According to the report, the outstanding national debt was 7.2 trillion yuan by the end of 2011, which was within acceptable limits.

Finance Minister Xie Xuren said the extra expenditure was mainly made in areas related to improving people's livelihoods such as education, healthcare, employment and agriculture.

Expenditure by government bodies on overseas traveling, vehicle purchasing and receptions totaled 9.4 billion yuan, of which the vehicle purchasing expenses contributed nearly 6 billion yuan, Xie said.

Liu Jiayi, head of the National Audit Office, said there were still defects in China's public finance budget in 2011 in that no investment was directed to the 11 strategic emerging industries supposed to receive key support.