China’s cooling property market has helped push its budget into deficit and prompted Standard & Poor’s to warn of risks to the finances of regional borrowers.
Growth in national fiscal revenue slowed to 5.2 percent in March from 8.2 percent in February, Ministry of Finance data showed. The budget swung to a 326 billion yuan ($52 billion) deficit from a 257.5 billion yuan surplus. New home sales in 54 cities tracked by Centaline Group slid 47 percent from a year earlier to a four-year low over the May 1-3 Labor Day holidays.
