China to Curtail Local Government Debt

In 2014, China’s total government debt was an estimated 60% of gross domestic product (GDP), close to the upper limit set by the European Union. The Xi administration has set budget deficit at 3% of GDP for 2016 and announced that government budget revenue will grow only 3.2% in 2016! It has also recently abolished local government financing vehicles, legalised local government bond issuing in 2014 and started "the debt swap" reform.