Room for more spending to boost economy: researcher

With the budget deficit at a reasonable level, there is "relatively large" room to boost fiscal spending, a government researcher said.

The fiscal deficit can actually widen, if necessary, to a size similar to the level in 2009 when the government undertook a stimulus program, Zhang Peng, a researcher with the Fiscal Research Institute at the Ministry of Finance, said in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

Premier Wen Jiabao said in March that the government plans a deficit of 800 billion yuan ($126 billion) this year. The shortfall in 2009 was 950 billion yuan, according to the ministry.