BEIJING -- China's central government is cracking down on local authorities' use of public investment vehicles to pad thinning revenue from land sales, a practice that is leaving many regions with ballooning off-the-books debt.
Selling usage rights for state-owned land to local government financing vehicles (LGFVs) has been a fiscal lifeline for many cash-strapped cities and provinces, especially as the recent economic slowdown and chill in the housing market has left developers with little appetite to buy more property to build on.
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