On April 22, the State Council Information Office held a press conference, at which the relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Finance introduced the fiscal revenue and expenditure in the first quarter of 2024.
Wang Dongwei, vice minister of the Ministry of Finance, said that in the next step, the Ministry of Finance will solidly implement a positive fiscal policy, strengthen financial management and supervision, and organically combine strengthening macroeconomic regulation and control, focusing on expanding domestic demand, cultivating new momentum for development, and preventing and resolving risks, so as to further improve the quality and efficiency of fiscal policy and consolidate and enhance the positive trend of economic recovery.
Fiscal revenues are calculated on a comparable basis
Maintain the momentum of recovery growth
Wang Dongwei introduced that fiscal revenue continued to maintain a recovery growth trend on a comparable basis. In the first quarter, the national general public budget revenue was 6,087.7 billion yuan, down 2.3 percent year-on-year. After deducting the impact of special factors, the comparable growth rate was about 2.2%, continuing the recovery growth trend.
For special factors, Wang Dongwei introduced, including the partial tax deferment of small and medium-sized enterprises in the manufacturing industry in 2022, which raised the base in the first few months of 2023, and the four tax reduction policies introduced in mid-2023 to form a tail reduction in fiscal revenue this year.
In the first quarter, the national tax revenue was 4,917.2 billion yuan, down 4.9 percent year-on-year, and the tax revenue maintained a steady growth after deducting the impact of the above-mentioned special factors.
The pace of fiscal expenditure has been reasonably accelerated
Wang Dongwei introduced that in the first quarter, the national general public budget expenditure increased by 2.9% year-on-year. Among the main areas of expenditure, the expenditure on social security and employment was 1,270.8 billion yuan, up by 3.7 percent, the expenditure on education was 1,043.6 billion yuan, up by 2.5 percent, the expenditure on urban and rural communities was 561.4 billion yuan, up by 12.1 percent, the expenditure on agriculture, forestry and water resources was 518.5 billion yuan, up by 13.1 percent, and the expenditure on housing security was 204.9 billion yuan, up by 7.8 percent.
"In the first quarter, financial departments at all levels continued to strengthen the protection of expenditures in key areas while strictly implementing the requirements of living a tight life and strictly controlling general expenditures, and the scale of general public budget expenditure nationwide was nearly 7 trillion yuan. Wang Dongwei said, in particular, in the same period last year, after the transition of epidemic prevention and control, the settlement of related expenses and the increase of the expenditure base, the first quarter of this year still maintained a growth of 2.9%, which is not easy, reflecting the active fiscal policy to move forward, improve quality and efficiency.
At the same time, the pace of fiscal expenditure has been reasonably accelerated. Wang Dongwei said that in the first quarter, the national general public budget expenditure completed 24.5% of the budget, higher than the average of the past three years. In terms of specific expenditure items, the progress of social security and employment, health, urban and rural communities, transportation, and housing security was relatively fast, of which 30.7 percent was spent on social security and employment, 26.2 percent was spent on urban and rural communities, and 25.1 percent was spent on health and transportation, all of which exceeded the scheduled progress.
Solid progress has been made in the preparatory work for ultra-long-term special treasury bonds
Wang Jianfan, director of the Budget Department of the Ministry of Finance, said that after the review and approval of the National People's Congress, the Ministry of Finance has included the revenue and expenditure of ultra-long-term special treasury bonds in the 2024 budget. At the same time, we will steadily advance the preparatory work for ultra-long-term special treasury bonds, and actively participate in the formulation of action plans to support major national strategies and security capacity building in key areas.
Wang Jianfan said that in the next step, the Ministry of Finance will continue to do a good job in implementation, closely coordinate with relevant parties, and do a good job in all aspects of ultra-long-term special treasury bonds.
First, according to the distribution of ultra-long-term special treasury bonds, the issuance of ultra-long-term special treasury bonds should be launched in a timely manner. The Ministry of Finance will scientifically design the term of the issuance varieties in combination with the market demand of the bond market and the implementation cycle of the construction project corresponding to the ultra-long-term special treasury bonds, so as to achieve a reasonable match with the project term. At the same time, we will coordinate the issuance of general treasury bonds and special treasury bonds, rationally arrange the pace of issuance, and effectively ensure the capital needs of special treasury bond projects.
The second is to strengthen the overall planning of central and local funds, stock and incremental funds, and form a synergy with ultra-long-term special treasury bond funds to improve the overall efficiency of funds.
Third, in light of the actual situation of ultra-long-term special treasury bond funds, we should study the establishment of a regulatory mechanism and strengthen supervision over the entire process of fund allocation, issuance, and use, so as to ensure standardized, safe, and efficient use.
Optimize and adjust the investment areas of special bonds
and used as a scope of project capital
Wang Jianfan introduced that in 2024, the Ministry of Finance, together with relevant departments, will continue to optimize and adjust the scope of special bond investment and project capital, include more new energy, new infrastructure and new industries into the field of special bond investment, increase "independent new energy storage", "comprehensive treatment of water environment in key river basins" and other special bond support scope, and guide local governments to increase the "national industrial park infrastructure", "5G integrated application facilities", "urban village transformation", "affordable housing", "ordinary college student dormitories". "Affordable housing" and other areas will be included in the scope of special bonds to be used as project capital, and further give full play to the leverage role of special bonds.
At the same time, guide local governments to do a good job in the reserve of special bond projects around the key investment areas determined by the Party Central Committee and the State Council, and strictly implement the list of prohibited projects for special bonds. At present, the Ministry of Finance is strengthening the review and control of projects in terms of project maturity, financing income balance, and compliance with the use of funds, so as to improve the quality of project reserves.
Reasonably grasp the rhythm of special bond issuance
Regarding the issuance of special bonds in the first quarter is slower than in previous years, Wang Jianfan said that in the first quarter of 2024, all localities will issue special bonds within the new special debt limit issued in advance, which are mainly used for municipal construction and industrial park infrastructure, social undertakings, transportation infrastructure, affordable housing projects and other projects in key areas determined by the Party Central Committee and the State Council, which have played a positive role in strengthening the foundation, making up for shortcomings, benefiting people's livelihood, and expanding investment.
He said that the scale of issuance in the first quarter was smaller than that of previous years, on the one hand, in response to the impact of special factors such as the impact of the epidemic, the scale of issuance at the beginning of the year was increased, and on the other hand, it was also related to the demand for local project construction funds, construction conditions in winter and spring, bond market interest rates and other factors, and at the same time, a lot of work has been done to improve the quality of special bond projects and strengthen the preliminary preparation of projects.
"In the next step, the Ministry of Finance will work with relevant departments to guide local governments to reasonably grasp the rhythm of special bond issuance, optimize the rhythm and intensity of government investment, guide and ensure the capital demand of major projects, improve the performance of bond funds, give full play to the amplification effect of government investment, consolidate and enhance the economic recovery trend, and continue to promote the economy to achieve effective qualitative improvement and reasonable quantitative growth. Wang Jianfan said.
We should study an appropriate increase in the scale of issuance of savings bonds
Li Xianzhong, director of the Treasury Department of the Ministry of Finance, said that judging from the issuance of savings treasury bonds in March and April this year, the issuance of savings bonds was generally stable, but there was indeed a local contradiction between supply and demand.
For example, Li Xianzhong said that since April, due to factors such as the reduction of deposit interest rates by some banks and the suspension of sales of large-amount certificates of deposit, the attention of savings and treasury bonds has further increased. The electronic savings bonds issued in April sold 99.7% of the planned issuance amount on the first day of issuance, which is significantly faster than the average in recent years. From the perspective of counter sales, most banks have a sales time of more than 2 hours, and there is an instantaneous contradiction between supply and demand on the online (mobile) side of some banks.
Li Xianzhong introduced that in order to further meet the needs of investors for bond purchases, the following four measures will be taken in the next step:
First, it is necessary to pay close attention to the changes in the relationship between supply and demand and the sales of savings treasury bonds, and study the appropriate increase in the scale of issuance.
Second, we will study further lowering the single-person purchase limit so that savings bonds can benefit more investors.
Third, on the basis of guaranteeing counter sales, we will continue to improve the information service level of electronic savings treasury bonds, and steadily increase the sales volume of electronic savings treasury bonds on the online (mobile phone) side. At the same time, we will increase publicity to guide more investors to purchase bonds through online (mobile phones) and improve the bond purchase experience.
Fourth, in conjunction with relevant departments, we will further optimize the quota allocation mechanism for certificate-type savings bonds, better match outlets with actual needs, and study medium- and long-term arrangements for optimizing the proportion of certificates and electronic savings bonds to better meet investors' demand for bond purchases.
Transferred from: China Securities Journal WeChat
Source: China Economic Net