China's debt risks controllable, challenges remain: official

BEIJING - China's Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao said Monday that China's debt calculation is open and transparent and the risks remain controllable.

Speaking at a meeting in Beijing, Zhu referred to figures from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the National Institution for Finance & Development (NFID), a domestic think tank.

"The IMF estimated China's non-financial debts at 153.4 trillion yuan ($22.7 trillion) in 2015, accounting for 220.4 percent of GDP, while the NFID's was 154.3 trillion yuan, or 227.92 percent of GDP," Zhu said.

"The two figures were almost the same, and the difference stemmed from statistical methods," he added.

Zhu's remarks came amid lingering concerns that China's policymakers underestimated the country's debt level.

However, data from the two organizations showed similar results in the government, household and company debt, with minor difference in statistical structure, according to Zhu.

The vice minister also dismissed worries about rising debt, describing the level as "reasonable" as both debt ratios of central and local governments were well below 40 percent.

"Public data reflect that debt risk is completely controllable. But we should be alert to corporate debts which are increasing too fast," Zhu said.

China has an array of measures in place to manage debt risks, especially those of state-owned companies. Guidelines on debt-for-equity swaps have been issued, and a ministerial mechanism has been established to tackle corporate leverage, he said.