BEIJING, Jan 30 (Reuters) – China’s fiscal revenue fell 1.7% in 2025 from a year earlier, the finance ministry said on Friday, the first contraction since 2020 as a protracted property slump and weak domestic demand saddled the economy.
Fiscal revenues in 2025 totalled 21.6 trillion yuan ($3.11 trillion), a ministry official said at a press briefing. Expenditures grew 1% to 28.7 trillion yuan, slowing from 3.6% growth in 2024.
Growth in China’s fiscal revenue slowed to 1.3% in 2024. Revenue dropped 3.9% in 2020 when the initial outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted economic activities.
Tax revenue rose 0.8% in 2025, while income from non-tax sources slumped 11.3%. Revenue from stamp taxes on securities transactions surged 57.8%, buoyed by a stock market rally.
Revenue from land sales by China’s local governments declined for a fourth straight year as the property downturn rolled on, although the 14.7% drop in 2025 narrowed from a 16% fall a year earlier. These revenues have in the past been a key driver for local economic growth measures and the sharp drop has strained local authorities’ coffers and weighed on overall business activity.
China’s economy grew 5.0% in 2025, meeting the government’s target, as strong global demand for goods helped offset weak domestic consumption – a phenomenon that economists warn will be difficult to sustain.
Chinese leaders have pledged to continue to implement a more proactive fiscal policy this year and maintain the necessary fiscal deficit, overall debt levels and expenditure scale to support broader economic growth.
($1 = 6.9485 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Kevin Yao and Yukun Zhang; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Thomas Derpinghaus)
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