Tariff cuts and slowing import growth hit Chinese government revenue in January to May.
Budget receipts were up only 13.1 per cent on a year earlier, compared with 32.4 per cent growth for the same five months of 2004, official media reported
The figures suggested some slowing in the economy, economists said, adding that weakening corporate profit growth may also have held back the government's finances.
The government collected 1.35 trillion yuan ($163 billion) in revenue in the first five months and spent 958.5 billion yuan, 15.2 per cent more than a year before, the official China Securities Journalsaid today, quoting Finance Minister Jin Renqing.
That implied a fiscal surplus of 391.5 billion yuan. A steep drop in customs duties had been partly responsible for the slowing revenue growth, the newspaper quoted economists as saying.
Customs duties in the January-to-April period had fallen 11.5 per cent from a year earlier to 32.5 billion yuan, the paper said.
Slowing growth in imports was one reason for that, it said. Another was a cut in tariff rates under China's trade commitments.
The government has previously reported that May imports rose 15 per cent from a year earlier, continuing a slowing trend that economists say reflects efforts to cool parts of the economy.
Also, the country increasingly makes things that it used to buy from abroad. China's 2004 imports were 36 per cent higher than a year earlier.