The State Administration of Taxation (SAT) of China has raised the tax rebate index by 6.585 billion yuan on the basis of the original 57 billion yuan in compliance with the demands and careful calculation made by relevant provinces and cities.

The move is intended to further encourage export and meet the needs of the current export tax rebate work. Thus far, the planned export tax refund target set by the administration for 1999 has totaled 63.585 billion yuan.

Since July this year, gratifying achievements have been made in export trade under the impetus of a series of policies and measures, including the raise of the export tax rebate rate. The total import and export value amounted to US$286.6 billion in the first 10 months, a 10.6 percent increase over the same period last year. The value of exports hit US$155.2 billion and imports, US$131.4 billion, with their respective increases standing at 4.3 percent and 19.2 percent, registering a trade surplus of US$23.8 billion. By the end of October, export tax refund handled by tax authorities at various levels nationwide had totaled nearly 41.552 billion yuan, accounting for 65.35 percent of this year's already added, planned target of 63.585 billion yuan, up by 30.3 percent over the previous year. The growth rate of tax rebate is much greater than that of exports.