Local government debt to be swapped

China plans to further transfer 1.73 trillion yuan ($270.8 billion) of existing less-transparent local government debt into bonds by August to strengthen debt management and control potential risks, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday after reporting financial revenue in 2017 that was higher than expected.

The country's local government debt-swap program, which started in 2015, has shifted 10.9 trillion yuan of debt into bonds trading on the public market.

"The program is expected to end by August," Wang Kebing, deputy head of the ministry's budget department, said at a news briefing.