BEIJING, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- China's 2008 fiscal revenue is expected to exceed 6 trillion yuan (about 857 billion U.S. dollars), Finance Minister Xie Xuren told a national conference Monday.

This represented a year-on-year increase of 19 percent, comparing with a 32.4 percent growth in 2007.

The country's fiscal revenue increase started to decline in thesecond half of 2008 because of economic slowdown, corporate profits decline and tax cuts to boost growth amid the global financial crisis, Xie said.

He expected the downward trend to continue in 2009, which wouldmake it "a difficult fiscal year" marked by falling revenue growthand surging expenditure.

The central government has decided to carry out an active fiscal policy and a moderately easy monetary policy in 2009. It has unveiled a four trillion-yuan economic stimulus package to boost growth through enhancing domestic demand.

The country's fiscal revenue rose 20.5 percent year-on-year to 5.8 trillion yuan in the first 11 months last year. The expenditure also increased in the first 11 months, up 23.6 percentto nearly 4.6 trillion yuan.

Fiscal revenue dropped 3.1 percent in November from a year earlier.

In October, the country reported 532.9 billion yuan in fiscal revenue, down 0.3 percent year-on-year, the first decline in 12 years.

According to Xie, reform and development in rural areas would be one of the government's major tasks in 2009. Financial support will be reinforced for farmers, agricultural production and rural areas this year.

The central budget has channeled 102.77 billion yuan in subsidies for farmers in 2008, more than doubled from a year earlier.

The government will continue to optimize the structure of fiscal expenditure this year, spending more money to improve people's quality of life, Xie said.

The country's fiscal expenditure on education is expected to reach 158.2 billion yuan in 2008, up 47 percent from 2007, while that on medical and health care will increase 25.5 percent year-on-year to 83.36 billion yuan. A forecast 276.16 billion yuanis spent to improve social welfare and employment last year, increasing nearly 20 percent.

The government would also spend more money to help boost employment this year, he said.

 

China's external trade estimated to grow 18% in 2008

BEIJING, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- China's foreign trade probably reached 2.55 trillion U.S. dollars last year, up 18 percent from 2007, according to an analysis released on Sunday by the General Administration of Customs.

The trade surplus was about 290 billion U.S. dollars, it said. Full story

Futures trade value sets record in China, rising 76% in 2008

BEIJING, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- China's futures trading volume reached a record high of 71.9 trillion yuan (10.5 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2008, up 76 percent year-on-year, the China Futures Association (CFA) said on Saturday.

It said 1.36 billion contracts were traded, up 87 percent. Full story

China's PMI rises to 41.2% in Dec.

BEIJING, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) of China's manufacturing sector climbed 2.4 percentage points month-on-month to 41.2 percent in December, China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP) told Xinhua Sunday.

The index has been lower than 50 percent for three consecutive months. It was also the fifth time the index remained below 50 percent within last year after it fell to a record low of 38.8 percent in November. Full story

China digital publishing revenue to reach 53 bln yuan in 2008

BEIJING, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- Revenue from the digital publishing industry was expected to reach 53 billion yuan (7.6 billion U.S. dollars) in 2008, said a senior official with China's press and publications administration on Saturday.

Sun Shoushan, vice director of the General Administration of Press and Publications (GAPP), said the digital publishing industry included the digitalization of traditional publishing products, such as newspapers, books and cell phone text messages, and new digital media. Full story

Think tank: China's economy expands at 9.8% in 2008

BEIJING, Dec.2 -- China's top think tank, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences(CASS), says that the countr's economy is expected to slow down to 9.8% in 2008 and further decline to 9.3% in 2009.

In its annual Blue Paper on China's economy, which was released on Tuesday, CASS noted the Chinese economic downturn is mostly attributed to the global financial crisis. Full story

Rating agency report: China's GDP to slow to 9.4% in 2008

BEIJING, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- China's gross domestic product (GDP) growth is expected to slow to 9.4 percent in 2008 from last year's 11.4 percent as the shrinking exports will cool the world's fourth largest economy, according to a Chinese credit rating agency report on Sunday.

The fundamentals of the economy are sound, but falling export orders would take a toll on the national economy in the short term, and domestic consumption needed time to play a bigger role, said the report released by the China Chengxin International Credit Rating Co. (CCXI), a joint venture of China's first rating agency China Chengxin Credit Management Co. Ltd. and U.S.-based Moody's Corporation. Full story

 

SOURCE: XINHUA