BEIJING - China's outstanding local government debts came in at 30.47 trillion yuan ($4.79 trillion) by the end of December 2021, official data showed Wednesday.

The volume was well below the upper limit of nearly 33.28 trillion yuan decided by the country's top legislature earlier last year, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement.

In 2021, the bond issuance by local governments totaled 7.49 trillion yuan, with 2.57 trillion yuan in general bonds and 4.92 trillion yuan in special bonds. The term of those bonds averaged 11.9 years, with an interest rate of 3.36 percent.