China's February Fiscal Revenue Surge 41.5% Year on Year

BEIJING, Mar. 15 -- China's fiscal revenue jumped 41.5 percent year on year in February to 699.7 billion yuan (106.5 billion U.S. dollars), the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said Monday.

Of the February data, the central fiscal revenue topped 375.53 billion yuan (57.16 billion U.S. dollars), up 50.8 percent from the previous year, while local governments gathered 324.17 billion yuan (49.3 billion U.S. dollars), the MOF said in a statement on its website.

The February data took the January-February fiscal revenue to 1.85 trillion yuan (281.5 billion U.S. dollars), an increase of 36 percent from the same period of last year.

The MOF attributed the strong fiscal revenue growth to big increases in imports-related taxes, as well as rapid economic growth and price hikes.

China's foreign trade rose 10.6 percent year on year to 200.78 billion U.S. dollars in February, with exports rising 2.4 percent year on year to 96.74 billion U.S. dollars while imports expanded 19.4 percent to 104.04 billion U.S. dollars, according to customs figure.

The MOF forecast the strong growth rate of fiscal revenue to slow in the coming months due to the government's tightening measures.

Fiscal revenue in China include taxes as well as administrative fees and other government income, such as fines and income from state-owned assets.