The National Audit Office on June 23 made a report to the 15th session of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People's Congress, providing a fresh snapshot of local government debt.

Liu Jiayi, Auditor General of the National Audit Office, said in the report that 18 provincial, 16 city and 36 county-level governments audited were burdened with outstanding debts of 2.79 trillion yuan ($410 billion) by the end of 2009, including 1.04 trillion yuan ($152.3 billion) of debt raised in 2009 alone.

But only 8.92 percent of the new debts in 2009 were invested under the Central Government's 4-trillion-yuan ($586 billion) stimulus package, and a bulk of them went to infrastructure projects started before 2008, said Liu.

There were a total of 307 local financing vehicles in the audited regions, raising more than half of the total local government debts, said Liu.

Worries have been proliferating over the hidden financing vehicles due to their reckless expansion and operational mismanagement. In May, the government even vowed to keep local governments from making illegal guarantees for the financing vehicles.

The local government debts in west China, in particular, were bigger risks, said Liu. The debt ratio of seven provincial, 10 city and 14 county-level governments audited exceeded 100 percent, with that of some reaching an astonishing 364 percent, he said.