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Sound Performance in National Budgetary Implementation
On behalf of the State Council, Xiang Huaicheng, Minister of Treasury briefed the ongoing 16th session of the Standing Committee of the Ninth National People's Congress on the implementation of central and local budgets in the last five months.
He said that with the sustained and steady growth of national economy, a good performance is seen in the implementation of national budget.
Xiang said that from January to May, the national fiscal income was 501.293 billion yuan (excluding debt income), achieving 40.6% of the budget, rising by 85.508 billion yuan, or 20.6% as against the same period of last year. The national fiscal expenditure was 448.593 billion yuan, completing 30.6% of the budget, a rise of 95.604 billion or 27.1%.
The central fiscal expenditure is 157.315 billion Yuan, growing by 47.798 billion Yuan, or a rise of 43.6%. The rise was attributed to the two factors: one being that since the beginning of this year, the interests outlay has been included in central fiscal expenditure instead of being listed as done previously in the payment for national debts interests and capital, and another being the lagged effect of the wage increase for personnel of central administrative organs in the second half of last year. If both factors are neglected, the central fiscal outlay increased by 10.1%. The local fiscal expense is 291.278 billion yuan, rising by 47.806 billion yuan, or 19.6%, which is mainly derived from the increase in wages for employees of local administrative organs and in incomes of people receiving social insurance, both increases adding up to 35.6 billion yuan. The national fiscal balance is a positive of 52.701 billion yuan. From January to May, central fiscal debts revenue is 185.321 while debts expenditure is 109.56 billion yuan.
Xiang pointed out that in the implementation of the budget from January to May there were two characteristics. One is the increased income from some key income items that brought about the stable growth of central and local fiscal revenue, namely the value-added tax, import tax, securities transaction stamp tax and enterprise income tax grew by 83.867 billion yuan, accounting for 98% of the increase in fiscal income. The second is the improved fiscal expenditure structure. The income allocation adjustment policy brought forward in 1999 is being carried out well with an evident increase in wage outlays of administrative fees. The funds support for the technological upgrading in key industries, key enterprises and key products are being strengthened, increase of such expenditures for enterprise potentials, a rise by 14.2%. The expenditure for social insurance grew by 2.1 times, that for legal construction a rise by 23.1% while that for education and agriculture up by 17.3% and 12.9% respectively.
Xiang also stressed that in the implementation of the budget there are still some problems to be addressed. One is that some income items may fall short of the budget due to the influence of policy factors. The second is the personal interest tax from January to May, which only realized revenue of 4.133 billion yuan, covering 16.5% of the budget. The third problem is somewhat uplifting in enterprise tax arrears. By the end of May, enterprise tax arrears amounted to 30.6 billion yuan, increasing by 4.3 billion yuan as against that at the beginning of this year. The fourth problem is weak ability in fiscal payment, which can not guarantee the normal expenditure. The fifth is the illegal action of false declaration of exports to defraud export drawback, which is now regaining its strength.
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