BEIJING — China’s local governments raised 4.36 trillion yuan ($680 billion) through debt issuance in 2017, official data showed on Jan 17.

Local government debt balance stood at 16.47 trillion yuan by the end of 2017, below the government-targeted ceiling of 18.82 trillion yuan, data released by the Ministry of Finance (MOF) showed.

New debt issuance stood at 1.59 trillion yuan while that issued through the debt-for-bond swap program reached 2.77 trillion yuan, according to the MOF.