Room seen for added govt debt

China said on Thursday that its overall government debt level remains controllable and there is still room for further increasing debt.

The Ministry of Finance said that by the end of 2015, the central government debts "subject to budgetary management" totaled 10.66 trillion yuan ($1.63 trillion), while such debts of local governments were 16 trillion yuan. Combined, they account for 39.4 percent of China's GDP, it said.

China's overall government debt ratio was about 41.5 per-cent in 2015, lower than the warning line of the EU, which is 60 percent, the ministry said. The ratio was also lower than that of major market economies and emerging-market countries, such as Japan and Brazil.