Local govt debt is 'controllable', says finance minister

China's Finance Minister Lou Jiwei on Wednesday called the scale of the nation's local government debt controllable, adding the growth of debt was slowing, and the risk of default was "not that great".

He admitted local governments do face "relatively big" debt problems, especially those that previously saw very rapid revenue growth.

"They thought they would have money forever, so they took the risk of borrowing," Lou said in an interview with China Central Television. "For a period of time, their fiscal revenue grew 50 percent. They thought the growth would be 50 percent for the next five years, so they spent the money first."