China's fiscal revenue rose steadily in the first two months despite a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy.

The fiscal revenue grew 13.1 percent year on year to 2.09 trillion yuan (US$331 billion) between January and February, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The ministry cited the better retail sales and higher corporate profits as major reasons for the growth in fiscal revenue in the period.

The government's vehicle purchase tax collection gained 33.2 percent from a year earlier in January and February while the corporate income tax receipts surged 25.5 percent, the ministry said.

But the receipts from individual income tax fell 3.9 percent to 140.9 billion yuan during the two months, or 5.7 billion yuan less than the same period a year earlier after the government raised the threshold for personal income in September.

The growth in the fiscal revenue in the first two months is an improvement from 10.7 percent in November but was less than last year's average of 24.8 percent. The ministry did not release the figure for December.

China's fiscal revenue hit a record high 10.37 trillion yuan in 2011 but then eased when it rose only 10 percent in the fourth quarter after surging 33.1 percent in the first quarter of last year and 29.6 percent in the second.

The ministry said this was due to slowing economic growth, a change in the individual income tax rate, lower consumer prices and falling auto and property sales.

China plans to cut the income tax on companies and import duties on energy and raw materials this year to spur domestic consumption, Finance Minister Xie Xuren said last week.