China's fiscal revenue surged 18.7 percent year on year in the first two months of 2021 due to steady economic recovery and a low base last year, official data showed Thursday.

The figure bounces back from a 3.9-percent fall registered last year.

The country's fiscal revenue totaled 4.18 trillion yuan (about $644.5 billion) during the January-February period, according to data released by the Ministry of Finance.

"The fast expansion of fiscal revenue in the first two months was mainly driven by China's steady economic recovery and a relatively low base during the same period a year earlier," said He Daixin, a researcher at the National Academy of Economic Strategy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Tax revenue came in at 3.7 trillion yuan in the first two months, up 18.9 percent year on year. Revenue from value-added tax rose 19.9 percent during the period, driven by a recovery in industry activities.

Corporate income tax revenues rose 13.2 percent thanks to increase in corporate profits.

A breakdown showed the central government and local governments collected 2.05 trillion yuan and 2.13 trillion yuan in fiscal revenue, respectively, during the two months, both rising 18.7 percent year on year.

Thursday's data also showed that China's fiscal spending went up 10.5 percent year on year to 3.57 trillion yuan in the first two months.

Fiscal spending for areas including science and technology, education, employment and public health saw substantial increases, according to the ministry.

In addition, the country plans to issues special local government bonds totaling 3.65 trillion yuan this year. During the first two months, 418.1 billion yuan of these bonds were issued.

(With input from Xinhua)