The direction was given due to the mounting financial risks stemming from trillions of yuan worth of coronavirus stimulus last year.

“Some regional governments are facing heavy debt burdens, while there were still new increases of implicit liabilities,” the financial and economic affairs committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) was quoted as saying by The South China Morning Post during its review of budget implementation and planning.

“[We] must push for the compilation and publishing of local government balance sheets," the committee said.

Government debt in China totalled 46.55 trillion yuan (US$7.1 trillion) at the end of 2020, including 20.89 trillion owed by the central government and 25.66 trillion yuan by local authorities, the newspaper reported.