Despite the negative consequences of SARS, Shanghai's fiscal revenue in the first half of this year reached 15.86 billion yuan (US$1.91 billion) - up 31.1 percent year-on-year - accounting for 53.2 percent of the entire year's budget.

Meanwhile the city government reported an expenditure of 18.09 billion yuan - an increase of 27.1 percent from the same period last year. The amount was 51 percent of the budgeted expenditure for the whole year.

The figures were revealed in the interim financial report presented yesterday to the Standing Committee of the Shanghai People's Congress by Liu Hongwei, director of the Shanghai Finance Bureau.

According to Liu, the first six months saw 4.09 billion yuan collected in value-added tax, accounting for 54.7 percent of the annual budget, which was mainly generated from automaking, petrochemicals, the tobacco industry and the power industry.

The city also gathered 4.6 billion yuan in sales tax, accounting for 51.4 percent of the annual budget. Most of that revenue was from enter-prises related to insurance, banking, securities, real estate and advertising.

With salaries in the city rising and improved implementation of tax regulations, personal income tax added 1.28 billion yuan to the municipal government's coffers.

(eastday.com August 8, 2003)