(Yicai Global) April 22 -- China’s stamp duty collection on share trading surged 94.2 percent in the first quarter from the same period last year, mainly due to a big increase in stock market transactions, according to the latest data.

Revenue from the stamp tax imposed on securities trading came to CNY88 billion (USD13.6 billion) in the three months ended March 31, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.

Total turnover on China’s two main bourses in Shanghai and Shenzhen grew 17 percent over the period to CNY54.94 trillion (USD8.47 trillion), according to data from the two exchanges. The Shanghai Stock Exchange did particularly well with a jump of 49.34 percent to CNY24.65 trillion (USD3.8 trillion), while the Shenzhen Stock Exchange dipped 0.5 percent to CNY30.29 trillion.

Yet the overall value of stocks on the two bourses dropped over the first quarter, with the Shanghai Composite Index falling 0.9 percent to 3,441.91 and the Shenzhen Component Index losing 4.78 percent to 13,778.67.

In other areas, the government also saw a surge in tax revenue. Land and real estate-related duties leapt significantly on more commercial property sales, the MOF said. Deed tax soared 68.2 percent year on year to CNY203.8 billion (USD31.4 billion). Land value-added tax surged 40.5 percent to CNY206 billion. While domestic value-added tax gained 23.9 percent to CNY1.9 trillion (USD293 billion).

China’s public budget expenditure increased 6.2 percent year on year in the first quarter to CNY5.8 trillion (USD894 billion). Of this, central government public expenditure fell 6.9 percent, indicating the need for thrift. Yet local government public expenditure climbed 8.1 percent, largely due to the low base last year as projects were halted during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Editor: Kim Taylor