National tax revenues met the government's target in fiscal 1999 for the first time in three years, the Finance Ministry said Friday.

For the fiscal year that ended March 31, tax receipts totaled 47.22 trillion yen, against the 45.68 trillion yen targeted by the government after the compilation of two supplementary budgets.

Total revenues, however, were down 4.4 percent from the previous year and were the smallest amount since fiscal 1986. Fiscal 1999 was also the second year in a row in which the amount has fallen below 50 trillion yen.