Shanghai's  fiscal income fell by a better-than-expected 2.5 percent in the first half of this year, the city's finance bureau said yesterday.

Meanwhile, the city's auditing authority found that 84.97 million yuan (US$12.4 million) in capital was abused last year and another 1.11 billion yuan was not used in line with proper procedure at local government bodies.

The city's fiscal income dropped 3.28 billion yuan to 126.8 billion yuan in the first six months of this year, Ge Ailing, head of the Shanghai Finance Bureau, said in a report to local lawmakers.

"Shanghai's fiscal income is showing a better performance month by month this year," Ge said. "We expect to see a double-digit growth in fiscal income in the second half of this year, which will help secure our target of a 6-percent fiscal income growth for the whole of 2009."

The city's fiscal income rose a significant 14.9 percent last month from a year earlier. The growth returned to the black in May after posting negative figures for six straight months.

Shanghai spent 103.75 billion yuan on fiscal expenditure in the first half, up 15 percent year on year.

Ge said the bureau still faces tight finance because since the beginning of this year, the city has lowered the threshold for starting a company, cut taxes for small and medium firms, and given subsidies for buyers of cars, television sets and air-conditioners to encourage consumption.

She said the city will continue with spending to boost local economic growth and on projects for the 2010 World Expo.

Shanghai's economy grew 5.6 percent in the first half on an annual basis, up 2.5 percentage points from the first quarter. The growth was mainly lifted by the services industry, particularly the financial sector.

The city's fiscal revenue grew 13.3 percent from 2007 to 238.2 billion yuan last year.

(Shanghai Daily August 21, 2009)