China sets 3% deficit target, fights local debt

China set a budget deficit target of 3% of gross domestic product for 2017, in line with last year’s target, and pledged to clamp down on local government debt risk, the finance ministry said on Sunday.  The finance ministry also said in its work plan at the annual meeting of parliament that it would draw up a database of individuals’ income and property holdings, part of its effort to improve tax collection, Reuters reports. China has tightened controls in recent years on new local-government debt to stave off growing risks from a binge of borrowing taken on to soften the impact of the global financial crisis, but local authorities still carry a heavy debt burden. The finance ministry set a fiscal deficit target for the year of 2.38 trillion yuan ($345 billion), compared with 2.18 trillion budgeted a year earlier, which was also 3% of GDP.