According to reports, as of February 8, 511.4 billion yuan of new special-purpose bonds had been issued during the year, and 35% of the new special-purpose debt limit (1.46 trillion yuan) had been issued in advance.

In the face of the complex and severe international situation, to stabilize the fundamentals of China's economy, the role of investment cannot be underestimated.

One of the important starting points is to manage and make good use of special debts.

　　In recent years, with the continuous tightening of local government financing channels and the increasingly explicit debt, special bonds that are not included in the deficit are increasingly favored by local governments, becoming the "ballast stone" for stabilizing investment and growth.

Since special bonds emphasize self-balancing of income, it is difficult to apply to all infrastructure projects. Local governments must plan carefully, do a good job in resource integration and project selection, and reserve a number of key projects with strong foundations, long-term management, and stamina in advance.

　　To give full play to the role of special bonds in stabilizing growth, efforts can be made from at least two aspects.

On the one hand, it can focus on areas with strong public attributes such as new infrastructure and industrial parks, and carry out infrastructure investment moderately ahead of time, so as to better play the cross-cycle adjustment function of such infrastructure projects.

It is reported that of the 484.4 billion yuan of special bonds newly added in January 2022, more than one-third of the special bonds invested in municipal and industrial park infrastructure are higher than the scale of special bonds in other fields.

On the other hand, special bonds can be further guided and encouraged to invest in major projects identified in the "14th Five-Year Plan" and related special plans, so as to cultivate a sustained endogenous driving force for economic growth.

　　In the process of promoting the implementation of special bonds, local governments need to adhere to the principle of "funds follow the project", increase coordination among various departments, promote the construction of special bond projects in compliance with laws and regulations, quickly and effectively, and give priority to supporting projects under construction and those with construction projects. For newly approved projects with certain conditions, the physical workload should be formed as soon as possible, and the triple pressure of “shrinking demand, supply shock, and weakening expectations” should be actively responded to with steady project investment, so as to avoid hasty project launch and “half-drawn” projects.

For major projects to be implemented in stages, a continuous rolling issuance and project succession mechanism should be formed to ensure that the special debt matches the project scale and cycle.

In addition, the pre-assessment, target management, operation monitoring, performance evaluation and other work of special bonds should be further strengthened, and local governments should be urged to spend their funds on the cutting edge, effectively improve the use efficiency and multiplier effect of bond funds, and stimulate investment and consumption in other industries. .

　　The self-balancing requirements of special bonds for project returns are in line with the profit-seeking attributes of social capital. Therefore, high-quality projects should be used as the carrier to actively play the guiding function of special bonds and gather the strong synergy of social investment.

At present, the proportion of my country's special bonds used as project capital in all special bonds continues to be less than 10%, which is far less than the policy limit of 25%.

Appropriate projects can be further explored and planned, and the scope and intensity of special bonds used as project capital can be appropriately increased.

At the same time, the coordination of fiscal and financial policies should be strengthened to support the implementation of the financing combination of "special debt + social capital", especially in the context of the "two new and one heavy" projects that pay more attention to the development of the investment service industry and the improvement of people's livelihood. Precise fiscal policies and more diversified financial products improve the availability of project financing.

　　Since the repayment of principal and interest of special bonds mainly comes from government fund income and special income, the risk of repayment at maturity is still a high concern of governments at all levels.

It is necessary to further improve the special debt fund repayment mechanism and the institutional arrangement for early repayment, enhance the local government's ability to collect project income and supervise the whole process of special debt funds, and encourage qualified regions to speed up the establishment of a debt repayment reserve system. The source, scale and scope of use of the reserve fund shall be clarified.

At the same time, according to the principle of "who borrows, who repays", the main responsibility for borrowing risks should be implemented, and the excessive accumulation of debt repayment risks to the provincial finance should be avoided.

　　(Source of this article: Economic Daily Author: Zhang Qi, Chinese Academy of Fiscal Sciences)