The country's top four banks' outstanding loans to local government financing vehicles (LGFVs) rose by 500 billion yuan ($78.76 billion) from December to stand at 2.6 trillion yuan by the end of June, an official newspaper reported Monday.

A mountain of debt accumulated by local government financing vehicles during China's economic stimulus plan in 2008-09 has raised concern that many localities will be unable to repay everything they owe.

The Economic Information Daily, run by China's official Xinhua News Agency, cited industry experts as saying China still faced high pressure in clearing up those debts and warned that the risks cannot be overlooked.

The "Big Four" lenders are Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank of China.

The Economic Information Daily cited banking industry experts as saying the non-performing ratio of LGFV loans did not worsen, but that the slowing economy meant banks must extend additional lending to local governments to boost growth and avoid key projects being left half-finished.