Land sales boost local govts' income in H1

Although the central government missed its fiscal income target in the first half of this year, the local governments showed a much better performance.

According to the Ministry of Finance, the fiscal revenue of Chinese local governments reached about 3.6 trillion yuan, or $587 billion, jumping 13.5 percent from a year ago.

The Finance Ministry says the quick growth was mainly driven by the high volume of land sales.

In Beijing, land sales climbed to about 63 billion yuan in the first six months, surpassing the total revenue of the full-year 2012. But despite the pickup, analysts warn the income pressure on local governments will keep rising in the second half.