China fiscal spending up 26% to US$265.84bil

BEIJING: China’s fiscal expenditure surged 26.1% in June from a year earlier to 1.65 trillion yuan (US$265.84bil), reflecting government efforts to speed up spending to shore up the economy.

Spending growth accelerated from a rise of 24.6% in May. Of the total 6.9 trillion yuan of government spending in the first six months, money disbursed on public housing projects grew the most, surging 30.2% from a year earlier to 201.9 billion yuan, the finance ministry said yesterday.