Beijing News (Reporter Xu Wen) On April 3, the State Council's Joint Defense and Joint Control Mechanism held a press conference on increasing the size of local government special debt. Vice Minister of Finance Xu Hongcai said that since this year, the Ministry of Finance has issued some new special bond quotas of 1.29 trillion yuan in 2020 in advance. As of March 31, 1.08 trillion yuan of new special bonds were issued across the country, accounting for 84%, and the issuance scale increased by 63% year-on-year. It is expected to complete the scheduled issuance tasks about 2.5 months in advance.
Xu Hongcai mentioned that this year's special bonds will be used mainly on the basis of seven major areas such as transportation infrastructure, energy projects, agriculture, forestry, water conservancy, and ecological environmental protection projects. The scope of the use of special bonds will be appropriately expanded, and major national strategic projects will be listed separately and focused on support; At the same time, increase the area of urban old community transformation, allowing local governments to invest in emergency medical treatment, public health, vocational education, urban heating and gas supply and other municipal facilities projects, especially to accelerate the new foundations of 5G networks, data centers, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, etc. Facilities construction.
■ Focus
Central Bank: Whether the interest rate of bank deposits is lower should be fully evaluated
A reporter mentioned at the meeting that since August last year, the loan market quoted interest rate (LPR) has fallen by 26 basis points, which has led to the compression of bank interest spreads, and some banks have called for a reduction in the benchmark deposit rate. Liu Guoqiang, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, responded by saying that the deposit interest rate can be used as a tool, but a more thorough assessment is required.
Liu Guoqiang said that on the surface, the decline in interest rates is indeed a narrowing of the interest rate spread of banks, but the central bank will take many measures, such as providing low-cost funds to maintain reasonable and sufficient liquidity in the market, and the financing costs of banks from the financial market are substantial reduce. At the same time, the central bank is also considering increasing its support to banks, especially small and medium-sized banks. "For the deposit interest rate, it is the" ballast stone "in the interest rate system. Of course, it can be used as a tool." He mentioned, but because this tool is special, it needs to be considered more in practice.
Central Bank: All countries have introduced hedging policies to strengthen epidemic prevention and control and international cooperation
A reporter asked questions about the impact of the epidemic on the current world and China's economy. Liu Guoqiang responded by saying that the current epidemic has a great impact on the world economy, and there is uncertainty about when it will improve. He pointed out that the impact of the epidemic on the economy is mainly reflected in supply chain channels, trade channels and market expectations. At the same time of the shock, various countries have also introduced hedging policies to strengthen epidemic prevention and control and international cooperation. "The impact will not exceed 2008, but now it has not yet been exceeded. Since February 24, the stock markets of various countries have fallen by 25. %, In 2008 it was around 50%. "
Talking about the impact of the epidemic on China's economy, Liu Guoqiang said that if the conventional comparison is made in the usual year, the first quarter data will definitely not look good, but from the marginal changes, that is, the comparison between March and February, the data in March has improved significantly .