China will issue 30 billion yuan (about US$3.75 billion) worth of book-entry treasury bonds on April 23, the fifth batch of its kind issued this year.

The five-year T-bonds carry an annual interest rate of 3.18 percent, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement on Friday.

The bonds will be sold via the national inter-bank bond market and the stock market between April 23 and April 25, and will be available for trading on the market as of April 30.

The ministry said the T-bonds were available to investors with accounts for investing in funds, shares and bonds at China Securities Depository and Clearing Co. and China Treasury Bonds Depository.

The country has already issued 116.6 billion yuan in book-entry treasury bonds this year.

China issued book-entry treasury bonds totaling 652.72 billion yuan in 2006, 150 billion yuan up on the 2005 figure.

The Chinese government pledged earlier this year to cut the issuance of treasury bonds in 2007 by a "modest" amount, in a bid to reduce its financial deficit and expand channels for direct financing.

(Xinhua News Agency April 21, 2007)