BEIJING, May 8 (Xinhua) -- China's fiscal revenue rose 5.3 percent year on year to 7.27 trillion yuan (about 1.07 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first four months of the year, data showed Wednesday.
The central government collected about 3.47 trillion yuan in fiscal revenue during the period, up 4.3 percent year on year, while local governments saw fiscal revenue rise 6.1 percent to around 3.8 trillion yuan, according to statistics from the Ministry of Finance (MOF).
In a breakdown, revenue from individual income tax plunged 30.9 percent to 396.3 billion yuan. Revenue from stock trading stamp tax rose 4.6 percent over the same period last year to 54.1 billion yuan, while that from tariffs dropped by 6.6 percent, MOF data showed.
"The figures show steady progress of China's economy," the MOF said in a statement on its website.
China's fiscal spending expanded 15.2 percent year on year to 7.57 trillion yuan during the first four months, the MOF data showed.
Social security and employment and education took the lion's share of fiscal spending, while expenditure on science and technology, transport and energy conservation and environmental protection kept a fast-growing pace.
China will implement an employment-first policy this year, aiming to create more than 11 million new urban jobs, according to the government work report delivered to the annual session of China's top legislature on March 5.
The country will maintain a proactive fiscal policy stance in 2019, with a higher deficit-to-GDP ratio to leave policy space to address potential risks.
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