China Sets Wider 2015 Fiscal Deficit in Bid to Cushion Slowdown

China plans a wider budget deficit this year as the government adds fiscal fuel to monetary stimulus to cushion the economy’s slowdown while risks such as a local-government debt binge are reined in.

The government projects a budget shortfall of 1.62 trillion yuan ($258 billion) in 2015, the Ministry of Finance said in a report presented to the National People’s Congress in Beijing today. That amounts to about 2.3 percent of gross domestic product, it estimated.