China's Ministry of Finance will sell a special treasury bond to raise money to buy foreign-exchange reserves from the central bank, a finance ministry official said.

"Since it will be a special treasury bond issue, the State Council will decide on the amount and then submit to the National People's Congress for approval," Zhan Jingtao, director of the treasury department of the ministry, said in an interview at a conference in Beijing yesterday.

China's currency reserves grew at about $1 million a minute in the first three months of this year to reach $1.2 trillion, as exports boomed. The government is setting up a State investment company that will use some of the reserves to buy investments with higher yields. The State Investment Co probably will be set up officially before the end of this year.