In the first quarter, 83.5% of the new bonds issued by local governments were issued in advance.

China News Service, Beijing, April 2 (Reporter Zhao Jianhua) The Ministry of Finance of the People's Republic of China announced on March 2 that local government bonds (hereinafter referred to as local bonds) were issued 387.5 billion yuan (RMB, the same below) in March. Among them, 319.4 billion yuan of new bonds were added and 68.1 billion yuan of refinancing bonds. Among the new bonds, general bonds and special bonds were issued 186.3 billion yuan and 133.1 billion yuan, respectively. The average issuance rate of local bonds was 3.19%, a decrease of 28 basis points from 2019; the average issuance period was 17.6 years, an increase of 7.3 years from 2019.

Affected by the epidemic, most provinces were unable to arrange personnel to travel for on-site debt issuance operations. The Ministry of Finance carried out on-site debt issuance operations in Beijing, which resolved the difficulty of local inability to issue debts during the epidemic and effectively guaranteed the progress of local bond issuance.

As of the end of March, 1610.5 billion yuan of local bonds were issued in 2020, of which 152.4 billion yuan of new bonds were issued, 83.5% of the central government's advance quota (1.848 billion yuan) was completed, including 459.5 billion yuan of general bonds, and the central government's advance quota (585 billion yuan) was completed. 82.3% of the total; RMB 82.9 billion in special bonds, and 83.9% of the central government's advance quota of 129 billion yuan.

By region, Beijing, Tianjin, Liaoning, Ningbo, Anhui, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Tibet, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps and other 13 regions completed all advance bond issuance quotas, Heilongjiang, Xiamen, Shandong , Henan, Hunan, Guangxi and other six regions completed more than 90% of the progress.

The Ministry of Finance stated that the next step will be to implement the decision-making and deployment of the March 27th meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on increasing the scale of local government special bonds, accelerating the issuance and use of local government special bonds, and making every effort to ensure the smooth and smooth issuance of local bonds and promote active finance. Policies are more proactive and strive to achieve the goals and tasks of economic and social development throughout the year. (Finish)