China's fiscal revenue grew 4.5 percent year on year in 2016, to 15.96 trillion yuan (around 2.33 trillion U.S. dollars), the Ministry of Finance said Monday.
This was a sharp slowdown from the 8.4 percent in 2015 and 8.6 percent in 2014, partly because the country's business tax was replaced with a value-added tax, the ministry said in an online statement.
The slow growth was also due to downward economic pressures. Despite a stabilizing economy, the growth in fixed-asset investment and industrial output fell, hindering fiscal revenue growth.
The central government collected 7.24 trillion yuan in fiscal revenue, up 4.7 percent year on year, while local governments saw fiscal revenue rise 4.2 percent to 8.72 trillion yuan.
Value-added tax jumped 30.9 percent year on year to 4.07 trillion yuan in 2016, while business tax nosedived 40.4 percent to 1.15 trillion yuan. Consumption tax fell 3.1 percent due to a fall in the output and sales of tobacco and refined oil.
Fiscal expenditure rose 6.4 percent year on year, to 18.78 trillion yuan.
