Overview
China's fiscal revenue expanded 4.7% in the first half of 2026 compared with the same period a year earlier, the finance ministry said on Wednesday. That pace represented an acceleration from 4.0% growth recorded through the end of May. Total fiscal revenue for January-June reached 12.1 trillion yuan ($1 = 6.7724 Chinese yuan), the ministry's data showed.
Breakdown of receipts and spending
Tax revenue increased 5.3% year-on-year in the first six months, while non-tax revenue rose 2.3% over the same period. On the expenditure side, fiscal spending climbed 1.5% year-on-year to 14.3 trillion yuan in the January-June window, a pickup from a 0.8% rise logged for the first five months.
At a press briefing, finance ministry official Tang Zaifu said, "China will implement a proactive fiscal policy and support effective investment and consumption."
Land-sales slump and local government finances
Proceeds from government land sales tumbled 31.5% to 977.8 billion yuan in the first half of 2026, a deterioration from a 28.7% drop recorded in the January-May period. The ministry's release noted that local governments have traditionally relied heavily on sales of land-use rights to developers for income. That reliance has been tested by a prolonged downturn in the real estate sector that began in mid-2021 and has continued to weigh on land-sale receipts.
Addressing local government finances, another finance ministry official, Zhao Zeyong, told the same press conference that "China will strengthen the management of local government debt and speed up the allocation of funds." He added that local governments had issued special bonds worth 2.07 trillion yuan in the first half, representing around 47% of the annual quota.
Economic backdrop
The ministry's fiscal update came against the backdrop of broader economic weakness: China's economy expanded at its slowest pace in more than three years in the second quarter, with sluggish consumption offsetting relatively strong manufacturing and export performance.
Implications
The data show tax receipts supporting headline fiscal revenue growth while non-tax sources, notably land-sale income, continue to contract sharply. Fiscal spending has increased modestly, and authorities are signaling measures to manage local government debt and accelerate fund allocation, including the issuance of special bonds that have already reached nearly half of the yearly quota in the first half.
Note: All figures and official statements are drawn from the finance ministry's January-June 2026 release and related comments at the ministry press conference.