Opinion: How China Can Cushion the Blow From Falling Land Sales Revenue

In the first quarter, China’s local government land sales revenue amounted to 872.8 billion yuan ($126.8 billion), a 27% year-on-year decline following a 27.4% decrease in the same period last year, Ministry of Finance data show. This highlights the concerns behind the sustainability of “land finance” — the part of public finances related to local governments’ sale of land-use rights, which has played a huge role in fiscal operations for more than two decades.