The fiscal revenue of China will surpass five trillion yuan (US$602 billion) in the ninth five-year plan period (1996-2000), a government spokesman said Tuesday.

The figure will more than double that for the 1991-1995 period to represent an average annual growth rate of 14 percent, said Wang Jun, spokesman for the Ministry of Finance, at a press conference sponsored by the State Council's Information Office.

According to Wang, the ratio of the fiscal revenue to gross domestic product (GDP) rose from 10.7 percent in 1995 to 13.9 percent in 1999, and is expected to top 14.5 percent this year, reversing the successive decline before 1996.

China has further improved the structure of its fiscal expenditures with more money put in infrastructure and social security since it began to implement the ninth five-year plan in 1996.

Government fiscal spending is expected to grow at an average annual rate of more than 16 percent in the five years ending this year, Wang said.

According to him, the Ministry of Finance will focus on four important tasks in the tenth five-year plan from 2001 to 2005.

The first task is to give full play to the fiscal policies and tax leverages to guide and promote economic restructuring and ensure a stable growth in the nation's fiscal revenue and economy.

The second is to deepen the reform of the fiscal and taxation system in line with the requirements for China's accession to the World Trade Organization for the step-by-step establishment of the framework of a public fiscal system.

The third is to strengthen the management and collecting of taxes so as to gradually expand the share of fiscal revenue in GDP and the share of the central revenue in the nation's total revenue.

The fourth task is to strengthen expenditure management so as to guarantee input in such sectors as agriculture, education, science and social security.

(People's Daily 10/18/2000)