Local governments must set debt limits

The Ministry of Finance issued a guideline on Wednesday to regulate local government debt levels, the latest top-level document issued after an emergency plan to fend off debt risks came out in early November.

The guideline requires local governments to set their own limits to avoid breaking the debt ceiling approved by the nation's top legislature.

The Ministry of Finance set this year's debt financing limit at 1.18 trillion yuan ($171 billion) - 780 billion yuan worth of municipal bonds and 400 billion yuan in construction bonds.