China’s tax revenues are on the rise as the country’s taxation authority said on July 20 that it collected more than 7 trillion yuan in taxes in the first half of 2017, up by 8.9 percent from last year.

The growth in tax revenue reflected improvements in China’s economy. The State Administration of Taxation also said taxes collected from private consumption grew faster than average.

In addition, taxes collected from manufacturing and the coal and steel sectors registered growth as well. That came because of the country’s supply-side reforms and increased global trade.

The tax agency said that a narrower gap in tax revenue from province to province in the first half of the year reflects more balanced geographic development.