(Yicai Global) July 31 -- Southern Guangdong province was the Chinese provincial-level region with the biggest fiscal revenue in the first six months, while the Tibet Autonomous Region’s expanded at the fastest pace, according to the latest research.

Guangdong province’s general public budget revenue reached CNY712.6 billion (USD100 billion) in the six months ended June 30 thanks to a strong economic recovery coupled with last year’s low base line, according to a report by the Yuekai Securities Research Institute. Yet it had the slowest growth rate in the country at 5.9 percent.

Eastern Jiangsu province had the second-biggest income, followed by eastern Zhejiang province, Shanghai and eastern Shandong province, the report said. Beijing ranked sixth with CNY337.6 billion (USD47.2 billion).

Tibet’s fiscal income was the smallest in the country at CNY11.4 billion (USD1.6 billion), but the growth rate was the fastest at 50.1 percent. It was followed by Qinghai province, also in the country’s west, with a growth rate of 34.7 percent.

The GDP growth rate of southwestern Yunnan province, Shanghai, Jiangsu province and southwestern Sichuan province all exceeded 20 percent.

The average fiscal revenue growth rate over the first half of 2021 and 2022 of energy-rich provincial-level regions Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region as well as Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces were all well within double digits as the price of coal and other mineral resources soared, Yuekai Securities said.

In terms of expenditure, Shanghai was the biggest spender with its general public budget expenditure expanding 13.2 percent in the first half from a year earlier, while that of Yunnan and southern Hainan province narrowed by 7.9 percent and 0.5 percent respectively. The growth rates of other provincial-level regions was between zero and 10 percent, it added.

Spurring Growth

But growth in revenue will slow down in the next six months now that the tax and fee rebates, introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic, were ended in the second half last year.

“In the second half, as fiscal, monetary and real estate policies as well as measures to boost the private economy take effect, the economy will continue to recover, which will spur the growth of fiscal revenue,” said Luo Zhiheng, chief economist and president of Yuekai Securities Research Institute.

“Declines in the producer price index, a measure of factory profitability, and the consumer price index, a gauge of inflation, are likely to narrow in the second half, and this will help boost growth,” Luo said.

More tax and fee rebates should be rolled out in the second half, key industries such as manufacturing and key groups such as small and medium-sized enterprise and individual-run firms must be protected, more special bonds should be issued and local debt risks need to be resolved, Luo said.

The country’s fiscal revenue swelled 13.3 percent in the first half from a year earlier to CNY11.9 trillion (USD1.7 trillion), according to data released by the Ministry of Finance on July 19.

Editor: Kim Taylor