China will start selling two batches of local government bonds next week, the first local government bonds to be sold for 2010 out of an earmarked total of 200-billion-yuan (29.3 billion U.S dollars).

China's Ministry of Finance (MOF) said in a statement Friday, June 18 that it will, on behalf of nine provinces and municipalities, sell a total of 43.8 billion yuan of local government bonds next week, including 28.6 billion yuan of 3-year bonds and 15.2 billion yuan of 5-year bonds.

The nine provinces and municipalities are Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi, Chongqing, Gansu, Qinghai, Xinjiang and Xiamen City.

According to the statement, the 28.6 billion yuan of 3-year bonds will have a fixed annual interest rate of 2.77 percent, and the 15.2 billion yuan of 5-year bonds have a fixed annual interest rate of 2.9 percent.

The stated interest rate for the 3-year and 5-year local government bonds was higher than that of national treasury bonds: 2.41 percent and 2.62 percent respectively, on June 13.