BEIJING — China's local governments slowed their pace of issuing bonds in July after a sharp increase a month ago, official data showed.

The value of local government bonds issued in July totaled 555.9 billion yuan ($79 billion), down from a monthly high of 899.6 billion yuan in June, according to the Ministry of Finance (MOF).

In the first seven months, local governments issued nearly 3.4 trillion yuan of bonds, including 1.95 trillion yuan worth of special-purpose local government bonds aimed at providing financial support for public-interest projects.

To further spur the economy, China has eased the restrictions on infrastructure construction financing, allowing local governments to use part of special-purpose bonds as project capital to support major national infrastructure projects.

Local authorities were also required to accelerate bond issuance and try to complete the annual bond quota by the end of September.

MOF data also showed outstanding local government debt amounted to 21.07 trillion yuan by the end of July, below the official ceiling of 24.08 trillion yuan set for the year.