BEIJING, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- China's local authorities raised a total of 785 billion yuan (about 112 billion U.S. dollars) through bond issuance in January, according to data from the Ministry of Finance.
The average issuance interest rate stood at 3.5 percent with duration period averaged at 13.9 years.
Outstanding local government debts amounted to roughly 22.09 trillion yuan at the end of last month, the data showed.
The issuing channels have become more diversified as China allowed local government bond issuances over the counter of commercial banks in March last year.
To further spur the economy, China has eased the restrictions on infrastructure construction financing, allowing local governments to use part of special-purpose bonds as project capital to support major national infrastructure projects.
