In the year to November China's fiscal revenue surged to 3.61 trillion yuan (US$462 billion). This is 24.7 percent more than the same period last year and 70 billion yuan (US$8.95 billion) over the budgeted figure for the whole of this year.

 

On Tuesday at a national fiscal work conference in Beijing, Finance Minister Jin Renqing said the year's total fiscal revenue could approach 3.9 trillion yuan (US$499 billion). This would be the fourth consecutive record high.

 

The fiscal revenue broke the two-trillion-yuan (US$256 billion) mark for the first time in 2003, exceeded 2.5 trillion yuan (US$320 billion) in 2004 and hit 3.2 trillion yuan (US$409 billion) last year.

 

The continuous rapid growth has reflected the country's momentum in economic development, Jin said. "China's fiscal revenue expansion is quite stable," Jin observed.

 

Jin didn't reveal the current fiscal expenditure by central government but the year's central budget deficit was projected at 295 billion yuan (US$37.7 billion). This is down five billion yuan  (US$639 million) from the budget figure of last year.

 

He said government spending at both central and local levels on farming, forestry, water and gas supplies surged 17.9 percent from a year earlier while that on education, science and sanitation climbed 15.5 percent.

 

The outlay on pensions for the disabled and welfare benefits for the needy grew by 18.7 percent while that on public securities, procuratorial and judicial work was up 15.5 percent.

 

Jin said next year China would continue to adopt a prudent fiscal policy to "moderately" reduce the budget deficit and channel money to where it was most needed especially rural public facilities and services.

 

He said the cooperative medicare system would cover 80 percent of counties next year in comparison to the present 50 percent. This accounted for 406 million rural residents.

 

Under the system the central government provides a yearly medical allowance of 20 yuan  (US$2.6) for each farmer while local governments have been required to raise the annual per-capita stipend from 10 yuan (US$1.3) to 20 yuan.

 

Jin said medical insurance for employees in cities and townships, especially retired workers of bankrupt and loss-making companies, were also among the priorities of next year's fiscal outlay.

 

Central government spending on the less developed central China would continue to grow next year in an effort to narrow their disparity with the richer east, he said, without revealing details.

 

Previous reports said the government planned to target its long-term treasury bonds and spending on western China and poverty-stricken regions.

 

Jin also disclosed that the country's 148 million rural students at primary and junior high schools would be exempt from tuition fees and extras. "All of their expenditure will be covered by the fiscal budget to full amount," he said.

 

Some 4.88 million students in western rural areas have benefited from this policy. At present the per-person outlay for pupils is 140 yuan (US$17.9) while that for junior-highs is 180 yuan (US$23).

 

Taxation, central government investment and land management would continue to be the ministry's major macro-economic controls next year.

 

To encourage energy conservation and environmental protection the ministry launched the largest-ever revision of consumption taxes in April.

 

Export tax rebates for energy-consumption, polluting and resource-intensive products were reduced or cancelled while those for products with proprietary intellectual property rights were raised.

 

Jin said to rein in fixed asset investment the ministry had restricted government investment in this sector by providing more funds to rural areas. Approximately 48 percent of central government investment went to rural development this year which is up three percent from 2005, he said.

 

The ministry also attempted to curb the overheating real estate sector by raising land use costs and tightening the management of land use revenues. These measures had helped to ensure the economy grew in the projected direction, Jin said.

 

After China tightened controls on money supply and adopted a battery of industrial and taxation policies to take the heat out of the economy growth dropped from 11.3 percent in the second quarter to 10.7 percent for the first nine months.

 

The State Development and Reform Commission, China's top planning body has projected a growth of 10.5 percent for the year estimating that the country's gross domestic product may exceed 20 trillion yuan (US$2.56 trillion).

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 20, 2006)