Some provinces have received advance approval quotas - special bonds continue to grow steadily

　　Since the beginning of this year, the pace of special bond issuance and use has accelerated significantly.

In the first nine months, local organizations issued 4,242.2 billion yuan of new local government bonds, including 3,543.2 billion yuan of special bonds, which played an important role in driving effective investment and stabilizing the macro economy.

At the same time, some provinces have received advance approval for special bonds next year.

　　Experts said that the issuance of new special bonds this year has basically come to an end, and all localities should strive to form more physical workloads to help the economy further stabilize and improve.

At the same time, in order to promote the early issuance, early use, and early effectiveness of special bonds, it is necessary to plan and reserve special bond projects for next year in advance to avoid situations such as "money and other projects".

　　Continue to drive effective investment

　　This year, the new local government special bond quota is 3.65 trillion yuan, and 3.54 trillion yuan has been issued in the first 9 months, which has become an important starting point for proactive fiscal policies to improve efficiency and advance efforts.

　　"The issuance of special bonds started earlier this year. The quota of new special bonds was fully issued in March, and the issuance was basically completed in June, which is half a year earlier than last year," said Wang Zecai, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Fiscal Sciences.

　　In addition to accelerating the issuance process, this year's special bond investment is more accurate and the structure is better.

Li Xuhong, director of the Institute of Fiscal and Taxation Policy and Application of Beijing National Accounting Institute, said that the special bond funds are mainly invested in infrastructure fields such as industrial parks and transportation infrastructure, and will continue to be invested in energy, rural revitalization, affordable housing construction, and related fields such as "two new and one heavy" Make efforts to ensure the stable development of fields closely related to people's livelihood.

　　"Special bonds are an important source of infrastructure construction funds. After investing in and launching public infrastructure construction projects, they can directly stimulate the growth of local fixed asset investment. They are one of the most direct and effective policy tools for the government to stimulate investment." Li Xuhong said .

Benefiting from the pulling effect of special bonds, in the first three quarters of this year, the national fixed asset investment increased by 5.9% year-on-year, and the growth rate was 0.1 percentage points faster than that in the previous August, a slight rebound for two consecutive months.

　　More and more social funds are involved in the construction of projects in key areas, the progress of project construction is accelerated, and the guarantee of funds is stronger.

Taking Hubei as an example, by the end of October this year, the task of issuing 184.8 billion yuan of new special bonds for the whole year has been completed, and the issuance amount has increased by 23.3 billion yuan compared with last year.

The newly added special bond funds have guaranteed the construction of 1,643 key projects in the province, stimulating effective investment of more than 1 trillion yuan, and the expansion of investment has played a significant role in stabilizing growth.

　　Make good use of the balance limit

　　While playing the role of stabilizing investment and growth, according to audit disclosures, there are problems such as illegal use and idleness of special bond funds in some regions. For example, some regions use special bond funds for business operations and personnel wages.

　　He Daixin, director of the Financial Research Office of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of Financial and Economic Strategy, believes that to effectively avoid the occurrence of the above-mentioned problems, we should strictly enforce financial discipline, strengthen the supervision of the whole process of “borrowing, using, managing, and repaying”, and strengthen the standardized, efficient and safe use of bonds .

At the same time, it is necessary to continuously optimize the allocation of bond quotas, optimize capital investment, improve performance management, and use scientific and effective budget management mechanisms to urge local governments to spend funds on the "knife edge".

　　Wang Zecai suggested that, on the one hand, blockchain and other information technology methods can be used to penetratingly monitor the operation of the whole process of debt funds being allocated from the treasury to the project unit; The progress is linked, and the notification and early warning of the expenditure progress are implemented to prevent the accumulation of funds.

　　Previously, the executive meeting of the State Council proposed that the quota of special bonds of more than 500 billion yuan accumulated by localities since 2019 should be revitalized according to law, and all localities should complete the issuance by the end of October.

Making good use of the balance limit of more than 500 billion yuan of special bonds has become the focus of work in the fourth quarter.

　　"Activating the limit space of local special debts according to the law is an important measure to maintain the strength of fiscal policies, support the expansion of effective investment, and consolidate economic stability and improvement." Li Xuhong believes that the special debt limit of more than 500 billion yuan should focus on supporting projects under construction and as soon as possible The projects that have been started will make up for the weak links in infrastructure and people's livelihood to the greatest extent, and provide the necessary support for the work of "six stability" and "six guarantees".

　　All localities are speeding up their efforts to revitalize the special debt balance limit in accordance with the law.

For example, on October 28, Henan Province issued 9 new special bonds totaling 31.4 billion yuan.

The Henan Provincial Department of Finance stated that the new special bonds issued this time are the special bond balance limit issued in September, and the target task of "issuing before the end of October" has been successfully completed.

　　"Next, we should pay close attention to the implementation of the project, urge all localities to accelerate the work of pre-project elements and conditions in accordance with laws and regulations, and promote funds to go directly to the implementation and operation entities." Special bonds play an important role in stabilizing investment, promoting projects, and maintaining growth.

　　Effectively improve project quality

　　As the issuance of new special bonds this year comes to an end, the issuance of special bonds next year has attracted much attention.

Experts believe that under the background of multiple domestic epidemics and increasing downward pressure on the economy, the advance approval quota for next year's special bonds is expected to be issued before the end of this year.

He Daixin said that the early issuance of the special bond limit has bought time for the issuance and use of special bonds and the early formation of physical workloads.

　　Individual regions have taken the lead in obtaining quotas in advance.

Recently, the Fujian Provincial Department of Finance announced that on November 1, the Ministry of Finance issued ahead of schedule the new government debt limit of Fujian Province in 2023 of 103.4 billion yuan, an increase of 33.9% over the previous year.

　　"The implementation of fiscal and taxation policies this year is generally relatively advanced, and the progress and intensity of the issuance of special bond quotas have increased compared with previous years." Li Xuhong said that the early issuance of part of the special bond quota for next year can provide a powerful source of financial macro-control and future economic growth. Support can also reserve space for local governments to better plan projects, arrange budgets, and allocate funds, help stabilize the economic market this year, and underpin economic growth next year.

　　In order to seize the policy window period and promote the formation of special debt as soon as possible, many regions have begun to plan to reserve special debt projects for next year.

For example, on November 8, Shanxi Province held the 2023 special bond project planning and reserve work conference, and made systematic arrangements for the 2023 special bond project planning reserve, storage declaration, precise arrangement, scheduling advancement, and follow-up supervision.

　　He Daixin said that local project planning should adhere to the actual needs of economic development, local financial affordability, and people's livelihood development, and include new infrastructure and new energy projects in the scope of key support, effectively improve the quality of key projects, and leverage effective social investment. , to help stabilize the macroeconomic market.

　　Li Hualin