China will issue 30.15 billion yuan (US$3.95 billion) of one-year book-entry treasury bonds (T-bonds), the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said in a statement on Wednesday.

The short-term T-bonds are the ninth batch of such bonds issued by the MOF this year. China issued book-entry treasury bonds totaling 652.72 billion yuan (US$85.43 billion) in 2006, 150 billion yuan more than in 2005.

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The batch of T-bonds carries a fixed interest rate of 2.61 percent and will be sold via the national interbank bond market, stock markets and some commercial banks between June 14 and June 19, and will be available for trading on the market as of June 21.

Interest on the bonds will be calculated from the day of purchase, and purchasers will receive the principal and interest when the T-bonds mature on June 14, 2008.

The Chinese government pledged earlier this year to cut the issuance of treasury bonds in 2007 by a "modest" amount in a bid to reduce its financial deficit and expand channels for direct financing.

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