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Finance minister: debt level sound & safe

By Zheng Lifei (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-03-06 12:12

China's outstanding debt level, expected to account for 20 percent of its GDP by the end of this year, is still generally sound and safe, the country's finance minister said on Friday.

China has budgeted a fiscal deficit of 950 billion yuan this year, or 570 billion more than the previous year's, Premier Wen Jiabao announced in his government work report on Thursday.

The 950 billion-yuan-deficit budget this year, a record high, will bring the country's total outstanding debt to 6.27 trillion yuan this year, or 20 percent of the country's GDP, Finance Minister Xie Xuren said at a press conference on Friday.

"The increase in fiscal revenue in the past several years has cut the nation's deficit gradually; as a result, even after the big increase of deficit budget this year, our debt level will still be maintained at around 20 percent of our GDP," Xie said.

"Such level is bearable considering our comprehensive national strength and is still generally sound and safe," Xie said.