Slowdown cuts China's revenue expectations

BEIJING, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- China's fiscal revenue is expected to rise 19 percent for 2008 compared to 2007, a sharp slowdown from 2007's increase, its finance minister said Monday.

In 2007, China's fiscal revenue grew 32.4 percent. Finance Minister Xie Xuren said the slowdown, which began in the third quarter of 2008, is expected to continue in 2009, Xinhua reported.

Revenue in 2008 reached $857 billion, although the rate of increase fell with dropping corporate profits and a tax cut aimed at spurring the economy, Xie said.

Xie said rural development would be a major government goal for 2009. The government spent $15 billion on subsidies for farmers in 2008, more than twice what it spent in 2007, China's state-run news agency reported.

Spending on education was $23 billion in 2008, up 47 percent from 2007, while spending on healthcare reached $12 billion, up 25.5 percent.

Spending on social programs climbed above $40 billion, an increase of nearly 20 percent.