In the first half of this year, local general public budget revenue reached 6.88 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.7%, with the growth rate accelerating by 0.6 percentage points from the first quarter. Revenue grew across the eastern, central, western, and northeastern regions, and 28 out of 31 provinces reported revenue growth. So, how did regional fiscal operations perform during this period? Recently, all 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities have released their financial reports for the first half, detailing their fiscal revenue and expenditure.

28 Provinces See Revenue Growth

Overall, local fiscal operations were stable in the first half of the year, with local general public budget revenue totaling 6.88 trillion yuan, a 2.7% increase year-on-year. Among the 31 provinces, 28 achieved revenue growth, three more than in the first quarter. By region, all four major areas—eastern, central, western, and northeastern—posted revenue gains. In terms of total volume, economic powerhouses like Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang maintained their top-three positions in general public budget revenue nationwide. Guangdong's local general public budget revenue stood at 742.1 billion yuan, up 2.8% year-on-year, while Jiangsu and Zhejiang each reported over 500 billion yuan in the first half. Taking Jiangsu as an example, its revenue structure remained robust, with tax revenue accounting for a high share. The province's general public budget revenue was 594.1 billion yuan, including 454.5 billion yuan in tax revenue, a 3.4% increase, with a tax-to-revenue ratio of 76.5%. Looking at major tax categories, value-added tax revenue rose 5.8%, corporate income tax grew 2.5%, reflecting sustained vitality in business activities, and personal income tax surged 17.4%, indicating stable income and employment conditions. In terms of growth rates, the autonomous regions of Tibet, Xinjiang, and Gansu led the country, with general public budget revenue growth of 36.9%, 10%, and 8.2%, respectively.

Reports on budget execution in the first half from multiple provinces highlighted that strict budget enforcement and strengthening grassroots "three guarantees" (basic salary, basic operation, and basic livelihood) were key priorities. For instance, in the first half, Anhui's finance department comprehensively reviewed the "three guarantees" budget preparations across 120 regions, ensuring adequate budgeting at the city and county levels. Monitoring of "three guarantees" operations showed that spending in these areas reached 52.5% of the budget, keeping grassroots operations generally stable. Meanwhile, the Liaoning Provincial People's Congress Standing Committee recommended during its review of the province's budget execution report that the fiscal expenditure structure be optimized, with enhanced support for major projects, key programs, and basic livelihood areas to drive high-quality economic development and improve public welfare.

Local Fiscal Balance Is Assured

Since the start of the year, various fiscal policies have progressed smoothly, playing a positive role in supporting the implementation of national major strategies, improving people's livelihoods, and ensuring stable local fiscal operations. On the expenditure side, local general public budget spending in the first half totaled 12.2111 trillion yuan, a modest 0.6% increase year-on-year. Provinces like Guangdong, Sichuan, and Jiangsu ranked among the top in spending, with all regions maintaining resilience in key areas like livelihood expenditures. In the first half, Guangdong allocated about three-quarters of its local general public budget spending to livelihood projects, while Jiangsu and Zhejiang both saw social security and employment spending grow by over 7%. Shandong reported a 14.6% increase in healthcare spending. Livelihood expenditures remain a cornerstone of local fiscal operations. Local fiscal capacity has been strengthened, with the central government allocating 10.42 trillion yuan in transfer payments to local governments this year, marking the fourth consecutive year of over 10 trillion yuan. Balanced transfer payments reached 2.83 trillion yuan, up 3.7% from last year. Additionally, the Ministry of Finance has reduced some special transfer payments to increase fiscal capacity transfers, and selected provinces to pilot integrated and coordinated use of transfer funds, boosting local fiscal autonomy and coordination. The central government has also temporarily raised its share of costs for items like child-rearing subsidies and free preschool education for one year, alleviating pressure on local fiscal expenditure and supporting stable operations. Responding to the claim that "in the first quarter of this year, all provinces had a fiscal self-sufficiency rate below 100%, with none achieving a self-balance," Tang Zaifu, Deputy Director of the Budget Department at the Ministry of Finance, explained that the fiscal self-sufficiency rate refers to a region's ratio of general public budget revenue to expenditure. Under China's budget system, local general public budget expenditure sources include not only local revenue but also central transfer payments, funds transferred from government-managed funds and state capital operation budgets, and the use of previous year carryovers. "Since local general public budget revenue is only one source of expenditure, a self-sufficiency rate below 100% is normal. Despite this, increased central transfer payments allow local governments to achieve a balanced budget," Tang said.

Issuance and Use of Local Special Bonds Accelerated

Effective utilization of local special bond funds is a key component of implementing a more proactive fiscal policy at the local level. This year, the national government has set a new limit for local government debt at 5.2 trillion yuan, including 4.4 trillion yuan for new local special bonds, to support major project construction, replace maturing implicit debts, and clear overdue government payments. In the first half, efforts focused on implementing a new mechanism for special bond management, strengthening issuance and usage management, with the policy effect of special bonds continuing to be released. A batch of major projects commenced construction, implicit debts were orderly replaced, and the issuance progress reached 47%. By investment direction, funds were primarily directed toward municipal and industrial park infrastructure, transportation infrastructure, urban renewal, and social undertakings, with over 170 billion yuan used for project capital, effectively leveraging government investment to catalyze private investment. On the management front, financial authorities enhanced cross-functional supervision of special bond funds, conducting "scanning" audits on fund usage. They also strengthened asset management for special bond projects, establishing an asset ledger to create a closed-loop management system from fund to asset management and from debt to asset side. This year, Hebei, Jiangxi, Hubei, and Chongqing were included in the pilot program for "self-review and self-issuance" of new local special bonds. These regions have developed pilot work plans, clarifying responsibilities for project selection, fund use, supervision, and debt repayment, with a focus on enhancing departmental coordination and project reserve quality, leading to faster issuance and usage. Zhao Zeyong, Deputy Director of the Debt Management Department at the Ministry of Finance, stated that the ministry will guide and urge local governments to further strengthen the closed-loop management of special bonds, known as "borrow, use, manage, and repay." This includes enhancing coordination and review at the project planning stage, better aligning fund allocation with project construction to accelerate fund disbursement and create tangible work volumes, strictly implementing "negative list" management, standardizing project asset management, improving post-investment management science and standardization, and establishing a debt repayment reserve fund system, compiling repayment plans, and ensuring timely collection of project operating revenues to enhance debt repayment capacity.