Ministry of Finance in Beijing Photo: VCG

The steady recovery of Chinese economy will provide significant support for the continued growth of fiscal revenue in the coming months, the Ministry of Finance said on Wednesday. 

Xue Xiaoqian, an official from the MOF, made the annoucement at the press briefing on Wednesday following the release of the fiscal report for the first half of 2023. 

In the first six months, the country's gross fiscal revenues rose by 13.3 percent year-on-year to reach 11.92 trillion yuan ($1.65 trillion), boosted by the nation's economic recovery post-pandemic. 

The relatively higher increase in the fiscal revenue has resulted from a low base due to the implementation of a large-scale value-added tax rebate policy since April 2022, thanks to the economic recovery, Xue noted. 

In fiscal revenue breakdown, the nation's total stamp tax levied on securities treading in the first half of 2023 dropped by 30.7 percent year-on-year to stand at 110.8 billion yuan. 

The decrease in the stamp tax in securities trading was resulting from the lower stock trading volume in the first half of this year, Xi Junyang, a professor at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, told the Global Times on Wednesday. 

Xi Junyang expressed optimism about the stock market performance in the second half of 2023, amid the nation's continuous economic recovery which will further boost the traders' willingness to invest. 

In terms of the issuance for government special bonds, the bonds have been playing a vital role in ramping up investment. A total of 2.17 trillion yuan worth of special bonds were issued in the first six months this year, and the proceeds from the special bonds helped support some 20,000 projects nationwide, said Li Dawei, another MOF official at the press briefing. 

Global Times