Tax revenues in the first half of the fiscal year came to 13.03 trillion yen, down 17.3 percent from a year earlier, due to a decline in corporate and income tax revenues, the Finance Ministry said Friday.

The figure accounts for 27.8 percent of the tax revenue projection for the entire year, which stands at 46.81 trillion yen.

It thus underscores the possibility that the actual full-year figure will fall short of the projected sum.

"We will closely monitor the trend of tax revenues as well as the economic circumstances," said one ministry official.

Income tax revenues in the first half stood at 6.34 trillion yen, down 24.2 percent from a year earlier, due to a decline in tax revenues from interest gained on matured postal savings.

In September alone, tax revenues from savings interest also logged a year-on-year decline, although this declining trend appeared to have stopped by the end of the month, the official said.

Reflecting the stagnant economy, corporate tax revenues in the first six months of fiscal 2002 stood at 647.7 billion yen, down 45.4 percent from the previous year.

In September alone, overall tax revenues fell 6.8 percent from a year earlier to 2.15 trillion yen, marking a 13th straight month of year-on-year decline, according to the ministry.