China’s fiscal spending in November ticked up as local governments rushed to splurge the budget money allocated for this year to spur the economy, according to the Ministry of Finance.

The Ministry announced that the nation’s fiscal expenditure increased by 0.8 percent year-on-year to nearly 1.28 trillion yuan (US$206.2 billion) in November, compared with a decline of 5.7 percent in October.

The rebound in November was supported by a 2.4 percent growth in the expenditure of local governments, after the Ministry urged them earlier this year to increase the pace of spending as “an important boost to the economy”.

The central government spending plunged by 9.9 percent year-on-year to 149.3 billion yuan in November, the Ministry added.

Meanwhile, China’s fiscal revenue went up by 9.1 percent from a year earlier to 995.3 billion yuan in November, slower than the growth of 9.4 percent in October. Property-related tax receipts at local governments eased as the real estate market was under pressure, the Ministry said.

In the first 11 months of this year, China’s fiscal revenue inched up by 8.3 percent from a year ago, while spending inflated by 10.1 percent.