1st Ld-Writethru: China's fiscal revenue rises 14.4 pct in April

China's fiscal revenue rose 14.4 percent year on year to 1.55 trillion yuan (238.8 billion U.S. dollars) in April, data from the Ministry of Finance showed on Friday.

In the first four months, fiscal revenue went up 8.6 percent to 5.44 trillion yuan.

China's economy expanded 6.7 percent year on year in the first quarter, slowing further from the previous quarter. In the face of continued economic headwinds, China has made supply-side reform an economic priority, and tax cuts to lower the cost of business are a major policy option, putting further pressure on revenue growth.

"The foundation for revenue growth remains unsteady as downward pressures on China's growth remain and economic restructuring still faces many challenges," the ministry noted.

In breakdown, the central government collected 644.3 billion yuan in fiscal revenue, up 2.4 percent year on year, while local governments saw fiscal revenue expand 24.7 percent to 908 billion yuan.

Thanks to the warming housing market in major cities, real estate business taxes went up 11 percent year on year to 31.5 billion yuan. Natural resource taxes plunged 23.5 percent due to sluggish crude oil and coal prices.

In April, fiscal spending gained 4.5 percent to hit 1.31 trillion yuan, bringing expenditures for the January-April period to 5.1 trillion yuan, up 12.2 percent year on year.

To cushion the blow from sluggish revenue growth and balance the need for proactive fiscal policy to support growth, China plans to increase its deficit-to-GDP ratio to 3 percent this year from 2.3 percent last year. Endi