2nd LD Writethru: China's fiscal revenue grows 4.5 pct in 2016

China's fiscal revenue grew 4.5 percent year on year in 2016, to 15.96 trillion yuan (around 2.33 trillion U.S. dollars), according to preliminary figures released by the Ministry of Finance Monday.

This was a sharp slowdown from the 8.4 percent in 2015 and 8.6 percent in 2014, partly because the country's business tax was replaced with a value-added tax, the ministry said in an online statement.

The slow growth was also due to downward economic pressures. Despite a stabilizing economy, growth in fixed-asset investment and industrial output fell, hindering fiscal revenue growth.

The central government collected 7.24 trillion yuan in fiscal revenue, up 4.7 percent year on year, while local governments saw fiscal revenue rise 4.2 percent to 8.72 trillion yuan.

Value-added tax jumped 30.9 percent year on year to 4.07 trillion yuan in 2016, while business tax nosedived 40.4 percent to 1.15 trillion yuan. Consumption tax fell 3.1 percent due to a fall in output and sales of tobacco and refined oil.

To cushion the economic slowdown, proactive fiscal policies were put into place to ensure spending.

Fiscal expenditure rose 6.4 percent year on year, to 18.78 trillion yuan, leaving a fiscal deficit of 2.829 trillion yuan.

The figure was higher than the annual target of 2.18 trillion yuan set for 2016 and the deficit of 2.355 trillion yuan in 2015.

The statement said that China's land transfer revenue had gained 15.1 percent year on year to 3.75 trillion yuan, while land transfer expenditure climbed 16.8 percent to 3.84 trillion yuan. Endi