China's Finance Ministry has disclosed the country's official data for local government debt for the first time ever.

The ministry says debts raised by local governments in 2015 hit 16 trillion yuan. That's an increase of 600 billion yuan from 2014.The ministry also set the ceiling for local government debt in 2016 at 17.2 trillion yuan.//The government has issued a series of measures to defuse the debt risks, including debt swap deals.