Special Report: Global Financial Crisis    

    LOS ANGELES, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- California has successfully sold 5 billion U.S. dollars of short-term bonds, ending earlier concerns that the state would run out of cash by the end of this month amid the current credit crunch, officials said Thursday.

    The sale of the bonds, known as revenue anticipation notes, will allow the state to have money for public spendings, including payments to schools, hospitals and other government entities.

    "Californians stepped up and invested in record numbers, showing their faith in the state's strong credit," State Treasurer Bill Lockyer said in statement. The state's top financial official said the sales "surpassed all expectations."

    California typically borrows money from the credit market every fall for the state's public spendings and repays it using tax revenues collected in the spring. But the nationwide credit crunch and Wall Street financial crisis have prompted worries that investors would be reluctant to buy them.

    It turned out that people scrambled to buy the bonds, which carry interest rates ranging from 3.75 percent to 4.25 percent, compared with the latest federal funds rate at 1.5 percent.

    California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger earlier had warned that his state may need an emergency federal loan from the federal government if it fails to secure financing from the market.