China's finance ministry plans to sell 200 billion yuan (US$29 billion) of three-year bonds on behalf of local governments as spending is stepped up to revive economic growth, two people familiar with the proposal said.

The ministry will organize the debt auctions, the first of their kind since the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis, and channel funds between bondholders and the city and provincial governments issuing the notes, said the people, who declined to be identified before the sale is approved by the National People's Congress.

(Shanghai Daily February 27, 2009)