China's general public budget revenue dropped 2.8 percent year on year to 11.59 trillion yuan (about 1.59 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first half year of 2024, according to the Ministry of Finance on Monday.
The central government collected 5 trillion yuan in revenue, down 7.2 percent year on year, while local governments saw revenue edge up 0.9 percent to 6.59 trillion yuan.
Tax revenue totaled 9.4 trillion yuan during the January-June period, down 5.6 percent year on year; while non-tax revenue grew 11.7 percent year on year to 2.18 trillion yuan.
Data from the ministry also shows that general public budget spending expanded 2 percent year on year to 13.65 trillion trillion yuan during the period.
Expenditures in the central government's general public budget totaled 1.8 trillion yuan, up 9.6 percent year on year.
Expenditures in the local general public budget increased 0.9 percent year on year to 11.83 trillion yuan during the period.
General public budget revenue refers to income for government finance through participation in the distribution of social products. It is the financial guarantee to ensure the functioning of government.
China's general public budget revenue down 2.8 pct in Jan-June
The China-Africa Industrial Cooperation Conference was held in Beijing on Saturday, drawing over 500 attendees, including Chinese and African business leaders and diplomats.
Themed "Sharing Development Opportunities of Modernization", the event sought to foster collaboration between China and Africa across various sectors following the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, the largest diplomatic event hosted by China in recent years, which concluded on Friday.
"Certainly, we expect a lot more cooperation, particularly in the areas of energy. We have a serious challenge in terms of energy in my country Zambia following the effects of climate change and the droughts. The electricity generation capacity has been wiped out, so we need to diversify our energy sources with the expansion in solar and wind," said Ivan Zyuulu, Zambian Ambassador to China.
Abubakar Hassan Abubakar, assistant minister at Kenya’s Ministry of Trade, Investments and Industry, emphasized the importance of China's vast market to Kenyan producers who would benefit from strengthening trade ties between China and Kenya.
"Of course, we are expecting more cooperation because, as I had said, China is the largest trading partner in Kenya and now, we want to position ourselves for Kenya to be the largest investment partner. We want them to invest in and produce either agricultural or industrial products and serve the rest of the world, but also serve China itself because you can see that President Xi Jinping is opening up this market, and we want to take advantage of that market," he said.
The Alliance of Chinese Business in Africa for Social Responsibilities (ACBASR) published a new Blue Book at the conference about the "One Hundred Enterprises and One Thousand Villages" initiative, estimated to have benefited 10,000 people in Africa by supporting work to protect the rights and interests of women and children and promote environmental sustainability and community development.
China-Africa Industrial Cooperation Conference held in Beijing