China's fiscal spending growth eases in August

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's fiscal spending expenditure growth eased to 6.2 percent in August from a year earlier, data from the Ministry of Finance showed, reflecting the government's efforts to brake spending after a surge in previous months.

Spending growth decelerated after a rise of 9.6 percent in July and gains of 26.1 percent and 24.6 percent in June and May respectively.

Still, of the total 9.0 trillion yuan of government spending in the first eight months, money disbursed on public housing projects grew the most, up 28.3 percent from a year ago to 294.5 billion yuan (29.5 billion pounds), according to a statement on the ministry's website, www.mof.gov.cn .

Expenditure on the transportation sector rose 24.2 percent to 624.1 billion yuan, while spending on grain and oil reserves grew 22.1 percent to 124.2 billion yuan.

Beijing has unveiled a slew of targeted measures since April to help shore up the economy, including accelerating construction of some infrastructure projects and increasing bank lending.

The ministry had also urged local governments to quicken the disbursement of budget allocations in late May to guarantee the completion of key projects and lift the slowing economy.

The ministry's data also showed China's fiscal revenues rose 6.1 percent in August from a year ago to 910.9 billion yuan, down slightly from a rise of 6.9 percent in July.

The downward pressure on economic growth and tax cuts for selected industries could continue to weigh on fiscal revenues in coming months, the ministry said.

Official data on Saturday showed China's factory output grew at the weakest pace in nearly six years in August while growth in other key sectors also cooled, raising fears the economy may be at risk of a sharp slowdown.

(Reporting By Xiaoyi Shao and Kevin Yao; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)