China's general public budget expenditure increased 1.3% year-on-year to CNY 16.29 trillion in the first seven months of 2026. Central government expenditure rose 6.2% to CNY 2.48 trillion, while local government spending increased 0.5% to CNY 13.81 trillion, indicating that fiscal support continued to be led by the central government. Among major spending categories, healthcare recorded the strongest growth, rising 9.8%, followed by social security and employment (+7%), debt interest payments (+5.2%), science and technology (+1.5%), and education (+0.7%). Meanwhile, expenditure declined on energy conservation and environmental protection (-11.9%), agriculture, forestry and water conservancy (-6.8%), culture, tourism, sports and media (-6.9%), transportation (-2.5%), and urban and rural communities (-2.9%).