China's fiscal revenue growth slows in November

BEIJING - China's annual fiscal revenue growth slowed to 3.1 percent in November from 5.9 percent in October, official data showed Tuesday.

Fiscal revenue totaled 1.15 trillion yuan ($166.54 billion) in November, bringing the total in the first 11 months of the year to 14.83 trillion yuan, up 5.7 percent year on year, the Ministry of Finance said.

The slower growth was due to a decline in tax revenues, which fell 2.5 percent year on year to 855.4 billion yuan in November, compared with a 7.2 percent gain in October.

In the face of continued economic headwinds, China has made supply-side structural reform an economic priority, with tax cuts to lower business costs are a major policy option, putting more pressure on revenue growth.

The ministry said in October that the country would face a grim situation in terms of fiscal revenue increases in the last quarter of the year, due to continued economic downward pressures.

The country's fiscal spending reached 1.81 trillion yuan last month, up 12.2 percent year on year, according to data from the ministry.

In the first 11 months, fiscal spending rose 10.2 percent to 16.58 trillion yuan.