BEIJING - China's fiscal revenue dropped in the first five months of the year, down 13.6 percent from one year earlier, official data showed on Thursday.

This marks an improvement from the 14.5-percent drop in the first four months of this year and a fall of 14.3 percent in the first quarter.

The country's fiscal revenue totaled 7.77 trillion yuan ($1.1 trillion) during the January-May period, according to data released by the Ministry of Finance.

In May alone, China's fiscal revenue went down by 10 percent year-on-year, narrowing from a 15-percent decrease in April.

Tax revenue totaled 6.68 trillion yuan, down by 14.9 percent year-on-year. Revenue from value-added tax, the largest fiscal revenue source in the country, fell by 22 percent year-on-year in the first five months.

Value-added tax revenue from the industrial and commercial sectors in May has recovered to almost the same level of the corresponding period last year, reversing a 33.5-percent drop for the January-April period.

A breakdown showed the central government collected nearly 3.6 trillion yuan in fiscal revenue in the first five months, down 17 percent year-on-year, while local governments saw fiscal revenue drop by 10.4 percent to 4.17 trillion yuan.

The falling fiscal revenue was partly a result of tax and fee reductions to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the economy, with sectors hit hardest by the epidemic, like the film and aviation industries, especially enjoying significant fee cuts in the reporting period.

Thursday's data also showed the country's fiscal spending in the first five months fell by 2.9 percent from a year earlier to 9.03 trillion yuan.

The ministry said with China's economy steadily recovering, it expects major economic indicators to keep improving, while the decline in fiscal revenue would continue to narrow.