BEIJING (Reuters) - China will allow 10 local governments to sell municipal bonds in an experiment to clean up messy state budgets, the Finance Ministry said on Wednesday.

The governments are those in Shanghai, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Shenzhen, Jiangsu, Shandong, Beijing, Qingdao, Ningxia and Jiangxi, the ministry said in a statement on its website.

The amount of money that can be raised through bond sales cannot exceed a limit set by China's cabinet for the year, the ministry said.