MOSCOW, July 30 (RIA Novosti) - China’s authorities have ordered large-scale auditing procedures for the government’s debt, media reported Monday.
The procedures are expected to explain why the debt is growing and how the growth may affect the country's economic slowdown, Xinhua reported.
The planned nationwide audit follows a previous one performed by the National Audit Office (NAO), which found 3.85 trillion yuan worth of liabilities (some $628 billion) owed by 36 local governments, including Shanghai, Tianjin and Chongqing municipalities, by late 2012, the agency reported.
The debt was some 13 percent higher that at the end of 2010, when the combined debt of the 36 local governments accounted for 31.8 percent of the total government debt of 10.7 trillion yuan.
The timeline for the audit has not been provided, the BBC reported.
