THE Ministry of Finance (MOF) said today that the country's fiscal revenue rose 31.2 percent year-on-year to 5.69 trillion yuan (US$875.5 billion) in the first half of this year.

In June alone, fiscal revenue reached 1.01 trillion yuan, up 27.6 percent from a year earlier, the ministry said in a statement on its website.

The ministry attributed the fast growth of revenue in the first six months mainly to the country's economic growth and higher prices.

China's economy expanded at 9.6 percent year-on-year in the first half of this year, with the growth rate at 9.5 percent in the second quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday.

The consumer price index, the main gauge of inflation, rose 5.4 percent from a year earlier in the first half, with the growth rate accelerated to a three-year high of 6.4 percent in June.

The ministry said the growth of fiscal revenue will slow in the second half of this year due to moderating economic expansion and the higher exemption threshold for individual income tax.

Fiscal revenue in China includes taxes, administrative fees and other sources of government income, such as fines, and income from state-owned assets.

The country's fiscal spending grew 31.4 percent from a year earlier in the first six months with an expenditure of 4.44 trillion yuan, according to MOF. The expenditure for June was 1.08 trillion yuan, up 33.1 percent, it said.

According to the MOF statement, 576 billion yuan was spent on social security and employment, up 40.5 percent, while 612.8 billion yuan went to education, up 27.8 percent. Medical services used 245.5 billion yuan from January to June, up 61.4 percent year-on-year.