China News Service, January 30. According to the Ministry of Finance website, the Budget Department of the Ministry of Finance released on the 30th the status of local government bond issuance and debt balance in December 2023. Data show that from January to December 2023, 4,657.1 billion yuan of new bonds were issued nationwide.
details as follows:
1. Issuance of local government bonds nationwide
(1) Issuance status of the current month
In December 2023, 110.6 billion yuan of new bonds were issued nationwide, including 18.5 billion yuan of general bonds and 92.1 billion yuan of special bonds. 85 billion yuan of refinancing bonds were issued nationwide, including 41.1 billion yuan of general bonds and 43.9 billion yuan of special bonds. In total, 195.6 billion yuan of local government bonds were issued nationwide, including 59.6 billion yuan of general bonds and 136 billion yuan of special bonds.
In December 2023, the average issuance period of local government bonds was 10.2 years, including 6.1 years for general bonds and 12.0 years for special bonds.
In December 2023, the average issuance interest rate of local government bonds was 2.83%, including 2.73% for general bonds and 2.87% for special bonds.
(2) Issuance status from January to December
From January to December 2023, 4,657.1 billion yuan of new bonds were issued nationwide, including 701.6 billion yuan of general bonds and 3,955.5 billion yuan of special bonds. Refinancing bonds issued nationwide totaled 4,680.3 billion yuan, including 2,645.8 billion yuan in general bonds and 2,034.5 billion yuan in special bonds. In total, 9.3374 billion yuan of local government bonds were issued nationwide, including 3.3474 billion yuan of general bonds and 5.990 billion yuan of special bonds.
From January to December 2023, the average issuance period of local government bonds was 12.4 years, including 7.4 years for general bonds and 15.2 years for special bonds.
From January to December 2023, the average issuance interest rate of local government bonds was 2.90%, including 2.80% for general bonds and 2.96% for special bonds.
(3) Principal and interest payments from January to December
From January to December 2023, the principal repayment of local government bonds was 3,665.8 billion yuan, of which 3,291.8 billion yuan was issued to refinance bonds and 374 billion yuan was arranged to repay the principal of fiscal funds. The principal repayment of 97.4 billion yuan was due in December.
From January to December 2023, interest payments on local government bonds amounted to 1,228.8 billion yuan. Among them, interest paid on local government bonds in December was 86.3 billion yuan.
2. The balance of local government debt across the country
As reviewed and approved by the First Session of the 14th National People's Congress, the national local government debt limit in 2023 is 42,167.43 billion yuan, of which the general debt limit is 16,548.922 billion yuan and the special debt limit is 25,618.508 billion yuan.
As of the end of December 2023, the national local government debt balance was 40,737.3 billion yuan, which was controlled within the limit approved by the National People's Congress. Among them, general debt is 15,868.8 billion yuan, special debt is 24,868.5 billion yuan; government bonds are 40,571.1 billion yuan, and existing government debt in the form of non-government bonds is 166.2 billion yuan.
As of the end of December 2023, the average remaining life of local government bonds is 9.1 years, including 6.3 years for general bonds and 10.9 years for special bonds; the average interest rate is 3.27%, including 3.26% for general bonds and 3.28% for special bonds.