BEIJING — China plans to issue more local government bond exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for the healthy development of local government bonds.

Three such ETFs had been issued in China by the end of 2019, totaling 21.5 billion yuan (about $3.13 billion), said the Ministry of Finance (MOF).

Five new ETFs have been approved by the authorities and will debut soon, the MOF said.

Local government bond ETFs can help improve liquidity in the secondary market and promote the sustainable development of local government bonds.

The MOF said it will continue to diversify investors of local government bonds.

China issued 4.36 trillion yuan of local government bonds last year, up 197.2 billion yuan from 2018, according to the MOF.