1st Ld-Writethru: 2015 fiscal revenue growth slowest since 1988

China's fiscal revenue in 2015 grew at its slowest pace since 1988 as the economy slowed, data from the Ministry of Finance showed on Friday.

Fiscal revenue rose 5.8 percent year on year to 15.22 trillion yuan (2.3 trillion U.S. dollars), slowing from the 8.6-percent rise seen in 2014, according to the ministry.

The expansion was also below the 7.3-percent fiscal income target set for the year.

The ministry attributed the sluggishness to slumping global commodity prices triggering a fall in import taxes, and slowing industrial activity.

Weak performances by companies and structural tax reductions also played a role, it noted.

China's economy grew by 6.9 percent year on year in 2015, its lowest annual expansion in a quarter of a century.

In breakdown, the central government collected 6.92 trillion yuan in fiscal revenue, up 7 percent year on year, while local governments saw fiscal revenue expand 4.8 percent to 8.3 trillion yuan.

Weighed down by tepid industrial activity, national value-added tax edged up just 0.8 percent to 3.11 trillion yuan.

Thanks to the warming property market, real estate business tax went up 8.5 percent year on year to 610.4 billion yuan. Stock trading stamp tax came in at 3.8 times the volume in 2014 on the back of robust trading in the first half of the year.

Friday's data also showed national fiscal spending expanded 13.17 percent from a year ago to 17.58 trillion yuan, with spending on energy-saving and environmental protection surging 26.2 percent.

Authorities have stressed the importance of a proactive fiscal policy to help arrest the slowdown. Endi