China will accelerate fiscal spending and roll out fresh measures to strengthen fiscal-financial coordination in the second half of the year — moves that are expected to help shore up domestic demand, stabilize investment and put the broader economy on a firmer footing, officials and experts said.
The planned upgrade in fiscal support follows a mixed performance in July, with new growth drivers maintaining strong momentum even as key consumption and investment indicators came under pressure — a weakness experts attributed in part to slower fiscal spending.
With ample maneuvering room, faster bond issuances and quick rollout of new policy-based financial instruments, experts said a more expansionary fiscal stance in the second half should keep the economy on track to meet its full-year growth target of 4.5 to 5 percent.
"We will speed up fiscal spending at an appropriate pace in the second half and improve the efficiency of funds use," Liao Min, vice-minister of finance, said at a news conference on Friday. The pledge came as China's general public budget expenditure reached 16.29 trillion yuan ($2.4 trillion) in the first seven months, up 1.3 percent year-on-year, according to data from the Ministry of Finance. General public budget revenue increased 5.8 percent to 14.37 trillion yuan during the same period.
