China's 2009 Fiscal Revenue Tops 6.85 Trillion Yuan

Chinese Finance Minister Xie Xuren said Wednesday that the country's fiscal revenue exceeded 6.85 trillion yuan (1 trillion U.S. dollars) last year, 718.795 billion yuan, or 11.7 percent, up from 2008.

Xie revealed the figure in a report on last year's fiscal situation to the 15th session of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature.

Central government expenditure exceeded revenue last year, resulting in a fiscal deficit of 750 billion yuan, which was within the limit approved by the national legislature, Xie said.

The government's total central fiscal expenditure exceeded 4.38 trillion yuan, an increase of about 843.1 billion yuan over that of the previous year, said Xie.

The outstanding national debt reached 6.02 trillion yuan at the end of last year, which was within the 6.27-trillion-yuan limit in the annual budget, he said.

The total central fiscal expenditure included about 1.53 trillion yuan of central government spending and almost 2.86 trillion yuan of tax rebates and transfer payments to local governments, Xie said.

The central fiscal spending on national defense stood at 482.5 billion yuan in 2009, he said.

Of the total expenditure, 56.76 billion yuan was forwarded to the education sector, 6.35 billion channeled to the medical and health-care sector, and 45.44 billion went to the social security and employment sector, he said.

The government would promote the scientific and meticulous management of public finances, deepen fiscal system reform, enhance efficiency and transparency of budgets, and step up scrutiny of major government-funded projects, he said.

The government would strive to make central government organs publish "every major item" in their budget list by 2011, he said.

Xie said the government would continue its fight against extravagant and wasteful conduct and "small coffers," which refer to funds, securities and assets that should be, but frequently are not, listed in account books in a bid to escape supervision.

NPC Standing Committee chairman Wu Bangguo was present at Wednesday's top legislature session.