China began selling its seventh and eighth group of local government bonds on Monday, with a combined value of 35.8 billion yuan (about US$5.27 billion).

The Ministry of Finance (MOF) is floating 20.6 billion yuan of three-year bonds on behalf of Anhui and Sichuan provinces, and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region,with an annual interest rate of 2.36 percent, the MOF said in a statement on its website.

The MOF added that it also began floating 15.2 billion yuan of five-year bonds on behalf of provinces and municipalities including Shanghai, Anhui, Shenzhen, Sichuan, Guizhou, Ningxia, and Shaanxi, and the bonds pay a fixed annual interest rate of 2.67 percent.

The bonds will be sold on the national inter-bank bond market and the stock market between Sept. 7 and Sept. 9, and become tradable on Sept. 13.

China has sold 153 billion yuan of local government debt so far this year, and the annual target in 2010 is set at 200 billion yuan.

The MOF began issuing local government bonds last year to help finance its 4-trillion-yuan stimulus package.