BEIJING, April 28 -- China's local governments issued new bonds worth nearly 1.24 trillion yuan (about 172 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter of this year, data from the Ministry of Finance showed on Monday.

Of the total, special bond issuance came in at nearly 960.3 billion yuan, while the issuance of general bonds amounted to 279.1 billion yuan.

During the January-March period, local government bonds were issued with an average term of 17.2 years and an average interest rate of 1.97 percent.

In March alone, new local government bonds issuance totaled 437.5 billion yuan.

At the end of March, China's outstanding local government debts stood at 50.165 trillion yuan, the ministry said.