China’s government debt is at an overall safe and controllable level, China’s finance minister said on March 7.

Finance Minister Xiao Jie said the Chinese government still has room to borrow more to finance projects.

The debt level remains low compared to other countries, according to Xiao.

Xiao cited data from the National Bureau of Statistics that China’s central and local government debt balance stood at 27.33 trillion yuan as of last year, during which the debt to GDP ratio was only 36.7 percent.

To fend off default risks, Xiao said China will control the scale of local government debt, improve the emergency response mechanism and enhance investigations of illegal financing behavior.