BEIJING, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- China's fiscal revenue rose 6.1 percent year on year to 1.75 trillion yuan (255 billion U.S. dollars) in July, official data showed Monday.

The growth quickened from the 3.5-percent gain in June, according to the Ministry of Finance website.

The central government collected 860.7 billion yuan in fiscal revenue last month, up 1.2 percent year on year, while local governments saw fiscal revenue expand 11.4 percent to 885.4 billion yuan.

In the first seven months of the year, fiscal revenue went up 10 percent year on year to 12 trillion yuan, slowing from the 10.6-percent rise in the first half of the year, the data showed.

The ministry attributed the retreat to the lowering of value-added tax rates in the manufacturing, transportation and agricultural product industries.

Fiscal spending during the period rose 7.3 percent to 12.6 trillion yuan, accounting for 59.8 percent of the planned budget for the year.

With the economy on firm footing and fiscal revenue increasing, China lowered its fiscal deficit target to 2.6 percent of GDP for 2018, down by 0.4 percentage points compared with 2017, the first drop since 2013.

The government deficit is projected to be 2.38 trillion yuan, with a central government deficit of 1.55 trillion yuan and a local government deficit of 0.83 trillion yuan.

Despite a lower deficit-to-GDP ratio, China has raised the budget for this year's general public expenditure by 7.6 percent to 21 trillion yuan, higher than the 6.1 percent rise in budget revenue.