BEIJING, June 16 (UPI) -- The Chinese government says fiscal revenues in May rose 4.8 percent to $96.05 billion from the same month last year, pointing to a recovery.
The finance ministry said the May numbers represent a reversal of the downward trend of the past few months, China Daily reported.
Experts were quoted as saying the recovery will allow the government more flexibility to introduce fiscal measures to boost revenues.
Federal and local government revenues in the first five months of this year totaled 2.71 trillion yuan or about $396 billion, down 6.7 percent from last year, the report said.
"The rise in May is a signal that the economy is recovering. Hopefully, starting from May, the national fiscal revenue would begin to show positive growth," Jia Kang, president of the Institute of Fiscal Science, Ministry of Finance, told China Daily.
"Though the stimulus plan was announced in November, many of projects were actually launched in spring and are now starting to contribute to economic growth," said Zhao Quanhou, a senior researcher at the institute.
China expects 8 percent growth in fiscal revenues this year, compared to 18.8 percent in 2008 and 32.4 percent in 2007, the report said.
