Top planner demands hard work for economic targets

According to a report on the 2015 budget, also brought forth on Thursday, central and local governments reported slower and "severe" fiscal revenue growth in the first seven months, due to factors such as economic slowdown and falling prices.

The growth of tax revenue hit a five-year low in the January-July period of 2015, compared with the same periods since 2010, according to Lou Jiwei, minister of finance, when briefing lawmakers at the six-day legislative session beginning on Monday, which was attended by top legislator Zhang Dejiang.

Fiscal revenues nationwide increased 7.5 percent year on year in the first seven months, Lou said.

Central fiscal revenue totaled 4.3 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.5 percent, while local fiscal revenue was 5.08 trillion yuan with a growth of 5.3 percent. However, the growth rates dropped 0.5 percentage points and 5.5 percentage points respectively.

The growth rates of fiscal revenues in China's eastern, central and western regions declined 4.5 percentage points, 7.4 percentage points and 6.5 percentage points in the January-July period in comparison with the same periods of last year. Even worse, the revenues in seven provincial divisions decreased, he said.

The central government spent 1.44 trillion yuan in the seven months, 57.8 percent of the annual budgeted figure, while local governments spent nearly 7.56 trillion yuan, about 51.8 percent of the annual budget.

Spending on social insurance and employment increased by 21.4 percent. Health care and family planning spending was up 19.2 percent.