China’s January-to-September fiscal revenue up 5.1% year on year

[BEIJING] China’s fiscal revenue increased 5.1 per cent in the first nine months of 2026 from the year-ago period, following a gain of 5.7 per cent in January to August, the finance ministry said on Friday (Oct 23).

In the January-to-September period, fiscal revenue totalled 17.2 trillion yuan (US$2.58 trillion), with tax revenue growing 6.1 per cent year on year and non-tax revenue expanding 1.2 per cent.

Fiscal expenditure was up 1 per cent on the year in the period, slowing from a rise of 1.2 per cent in the first eight months.

China has accelerated local special bond issuance this year, and plans to front-load part of its 2027 quota, finance ministry official Zhao Zeyong said on Friday.

Net special bond issuance from January to September reached 3.56 trillion yuan, accounting for 81 per cent of the annual quota, and issuance for September was at 633.5 billion yuan, up by 214.8 billion yuan from the same month last year, Zhao said.

Revenue from government land sales fell 27.9 per cent on the year for the period from January to September, narrowing from a fall of 28.6 per cent in the first eight months of this year.

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The property sector downturn that began in mid-2021 has eroded land-sale revenue, long a crucial funding source for Chinese local governments. REUTERS