BEIJING, April 20 -- China collected 2.71 trillion yuan (442.7 billion U.S. dollars) in taxes in the first quarter of this year, up 3.4 percent year on year, new data showed on Monday.

The growth pace was slower than the 9.9 percent collected in the same period of last year, the State Administration of Taxation said in a statement.

The authority attributed the slower growth partly to its economic slowdown during the same period. China's economy grew 7 percent in the first quarter, the lowest quarterly growth rate since 2009.

Tax collected from the tertiary industry grew by 3.9 percent, while tax from the secondary industry rose 2.3 percent.

Tertiary industry tax accounted for 53.7 percent of the total in the first quarter, compared with a 53.3-percent share in the same period last year, the statement showed.

In the same period, tax refunds for exported goods surged 20.2 percent to 333 billion yuan.