Fiscal expenditure grows slightly
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-07-06 11:36

China's fiscal expenditure in May grew by 1.9 percent year-on-year to 172.1 billion yuan (US$20.9 billion), while investment in capital construction projects dropped 15.4 percent, official figures show.

Experts with the National Bureau of Statistics attributed the slowdown to the country's intervention to curb investment in some overheating sectors since late last year.

According to the figures released by the bureau, China's fiscal revenue during the first five months of this year jumped 32.4 percent to 1.1973 yuan (US$146 billion), while its expenditure stood at 832.3 billion yuan (US$10.02 billion), up 13.8 percent.

That left the public purse with a surplus of 365 billion yuan (US$44.5 billion) during the period.

Meanwhile, governments at various levels had increased funding for projects to ensure food security and boost farmers' income during the five month period.

Twenty-nine provinces and autonomous regions were estimated to release 11.3 billion yuan (US$1.37 billion) in subsidies for grain growers, and 1.24 billion yuan (US$151 million US) in subsidies for improved seeds of rice, wheat, corn and soybean.

Jin Renqing, minister of Finance, said the central government will give priority to a number of sectors when allocating funding capital later this year, involving the sectors of agriculture, forestry, water resources, social security, culture, education, sciences and health.

China has tightened money supply and land release to such overheating sectors as steel, cement and electrolytic aluminum since late last year, following rapid investment triggered concerns of inflation and pressure on commodity and energy supply.