Local debt concerns

The Chinese Finance Minister has said the country's county-level governments have seen their fiscal conditions improve significantly.

While this news offers some cause for relief, policymakers should not let their guard down amid the persistent debt burdens that local governments find themselves laboring under.

Things have gone smoothly in China's use of a fiscal-guarantee mechanism to ensure that county-level governments have the resources they need to carry out their duties, Xie Xuren, minister of finance, told national lawmakers on Wednesday.