BEIJING - China's government debt amounts to about 17.5 trillion yuan ($2.78 trillion), about 43 percent of the country's gross domestic product, Yang Kaisheng, president of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, said Tuesday.

The debt is composed of 10.7 trillion yuan ($1.7 trillion) of local government debt and 6.8 trillion yuan ($1.07 trillion) of central government debt, Yang said at a press conference on the sidelines of China's annual parliamentary session.