China News Service, August 17th. National Development and Reform Commission spokesperson Meng Wei said on the 17th that in the first half of the year, a total of 164 Chinese-funded enterprises issued 264 medium and long-term bonds overseas, totaling 103.31 billion U.S. dollars, although the total scale of overseas bond issuance was affected by the international capital market. The impact of turbulence has decreased year-on-year, but it has the characteristics of "strong resilience, low cost, multiple types, and excellent structure". The role of serving the real economy has become more prominent, and quality and efficiency have been improved.
On the 17th, the National Development and Reform Commission held a regular press conference in August. At the meeting, Meng Wei reported on the overseas bond issuance of Chinese-funded enterprises in the first half of the year.
Meng Wei pointed out that since the beginning of this year, in order to properly cope with the impact of the epidemic on the issuance of corporate offshore medium and long-term bonds, the National Development and Reform Commission immediately issued the "Guidelines on Issues Concerning Enterprises' Application for Extending the Validity Period of Foreign Debt Filing Registration Certificates" for companies affected by the epidemic. Strive for a more favorable issuance window to provide convenience. Hold video training sessions at appropriate times, and publish the "Guidelines for the Registration and Registration of Foreign Debt Issuance by Enterprises" through the official website and WeChat mini-programs to guide enterprises to improve the quality of application materials and continuously improve the transparency and convenience of handling. We will extensively listen to and promptly respond to the opinions of enterprises and relevant market participants, and work with relevant departments to refine classified management, strengthen coordination and linkage, encourage and guide enterprises to support the development of the real economy through overseas debt issuance, and at the same time enhance the ability to prevent foreign debt risks.
Meng Wei said that although the total scale of overseas bond issuance has been reduced year-on-year due to the turmoil in the international capital market, it has shown the characteristics of "strong resilience, low cost, multiple types, and excellent structure", and its role in serving the real economy has become more prominent. Improve quality and efficiency.
One is toughness. During the severe epidemic in March, the lowest point of the Bloomberg Barclays China-funded US dollar bond index fell by 4.14 percentage points from the beginning of the year. Compared with other US dollar bond markets, the decline was relatively small. Since the second quarter, the Chinese-funded US dollar bond market has shown a rapid and sustained recovery. As of the end of June, the Chinese-funded US dollar bond index reached 201.85 points, a year-on-year increase of 6.21%, a record high.
The second is low cost. According to statistics from market institutions, the weighted average cost of Chinese-funded overseas medium- and long-term bonds was 4.94% in the first half of this year, a year-on-year decrease of 1.3 percentage points. Both the issuance volume and proportion of bonds with maturities of more than 5 years have risen sharply, and the maturity structure has been optimized.
Third, there are many types. Newly issued foreign bonds by Chinese companies include senior fixed-rate bonds, convertible bonds, perpetual bonds, secondary capital bonds, preferred stocks and other types, and the overall bond qualifications have been further improved, with investment-grade bonds accounting for 58%, a year-on-year increase 11%.
The fourth is excellent structure. Chinese-funded issuers involve 41 industries, covering a wide range and relatively even distribution. In the first half of the year, the issuance volume of information technology companies increased by 10.9% year-on-year, the issuance volume of industrial companies increased by 24% year-on-year, the issuance volume of energy companies increased by more than 200% year-on-year, and the issuance volume of financial institutions decreased slightly year-on-year, but the issuance scale was more stable and the overall cost control was better careful. The raised funds are mainly used to support the development of the real economy. The issuance of real estate and urban investment enterprises has both declined year-on-year, and the effect of regulation has continued to show. While meeting the reasonable capital needs of enterprises, the scale of foreign debt was reasonably controlled.
Meng Wei said that in the next step, the National Development and Reform Commission will follow the principle of “controlling total volume, optimizing structure, serving entities, and preventing risks” to give full play to the role of medium and long-term foreign debt in “expanding inflows, promoting investment, and stabilizing growth”. Actively guide foreign debt funds to serve the high-quality development of the economy, continuously enhance the scientific, pertinent, and effective management of medium and long-term foreign debt, and promote the sustained and healthy development of the overseas bond market for Chinese-funded enterprises.