Fiscal Revenue Growth Strong, But Below Forecasts

China gov't struggling to meet fiscal target

China may struggle to make this year's fiscal revenue target, the finance minister warned on Tuesday.

The central treasury received 2.9 trillion yuan (472 billion U.S.dollars) from January to May, a year-on-year growth of 6.3 percent and 0.7 percentage points lower than the budgeted target, said Lou Jiwei, when briefing lawmakers on the final accounts for 2013.

This year's budgeted growth in central fiscal revenue is 7 percent.

The government is "under heavy pressure," Lou said.

Difficulties lie in the downward pressure on the economy and the program to replace business tax with value-added tax (VAT) in some service sectors, which will reduce tax revenue to some degree, he explained.

Despite the poor central performance, total national fiscal revenue has reached 6.12 trillion yuan, up 8.8 percent and higher than the 8 percent budgeted for.

"Economic growth is stable and performance remains in a reasonable range," according to Lou. "The general situation has met expectations."

Except for land sales......