Macroeconomic management is primarily handled by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

The Ministry, NDRC and PBC are equal in status, with their political heads all sitting on the State Council.

[3] In 1969, the State Council approved the consolidation of PBC's headquarters as a bureau within the Ministry of Finance.

[6]: 35 In 2009, the Ministry converted its ownership of $200 billion of China Investment Corporation's debt into equity, a result which relieved CIC of interest payments on the special treasury bonds that had initially capitalized it and instead resulted in CIC paying an annual dividend to the Ministry.

[4]: 110–111 The Ministry has sought to implement property taxes since the early 2010s, but has been opposed on this issue by the National People's Congress and many local governments.

[8]: 274 In 2015, the Ministry of Finance allocated 2 billion RMB to establish e-commerce centers in some of the least developed areas of rural China.