China's Finance Minister Lou Jiwei attends a session during the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Shanghai, China February 27, 2016. REUTERS/Aly Song

BEIJING (Reuters) - A larger fiscal deficit ratio in 2016 will help China prevent a slide in economic growth and to push forward with structural reform, Finance Minister Lou Jiwei said on Monday.

Lou told a media conference in Beijing that the 2015 budget deficit was 2.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), two days after the finance ministry said China had budgeted for a deficit of 3 percent of GDP in 2016..

China had budgeted for a fiscal deficit of 2.3 percent of GDP in 2015, he said.

Lou said the level of non-performing loans at banks was expected to rise “mildly”, when asked about rising bad debt levels in relation to structural reform. He noted that reform of the tax system was going more slowly than expected.