Intergovernmental Fiscal Reform in China

Philippe Wingender

No 2018/088, IMF Working Papers from International Monetary Fund

Abstract: China is the most decentralized country in the world in terms of expenditures shares, with subnational governments responsible for 85 percent of government spending. Limited revenue autonomy and insufficient intergovernmental transfers have led to large unfunded mandates and a build-up of debt outside the budget. The government has recently announced an ambitious intergovernmental fiscal reform, which will increase the role of the central government. Comprehensive reform is needed to improve public service delivery, increase overall social spending levels and reduce regional disparities. Revenue reforms are also necessary to improve efficiency and reduce vulnerabilities from excessive subnational borrowing. These reforms are challenging, but are crucial so that the government can support China’s continued development and prosperity.

Keywords: WP; government; local government; central government; reform plan; unemployment insurance; Intergovernmental relations; subnational government finances; social safety nets; China; budget cycle; government fund; government health; unitary state; purchase tax; government's plan; government structure; local government resource envelope; authorities' definition; financing arrangement; market value; risk pooling; Public employment; Social assistance spending (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 32
Date: 2018-04-13
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=45743 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2018/088

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/pubs/ord_info.htm

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IMF Working Papers from International Monetary Fund International Monetary Fund, Washington, DC USA. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Akshay Modi ().