(ECNS) -- China issued 2.07 trillion yuan (about $301.4 billion) in new special-purpose bonds (SPBs) in the first half of this year, accounting for 47% of the annual quota, a finance ministry official said Wednesday.
The proceeds were mainly used for infrastructure in municipal and industrial parks, transportation, urban renewal and social programs, with over 170 billion yuan allocated as project capital, according to Zhao Zeyong, deputy director-general of the Debt Management Department at the Ministry of Finance.
Speaking at a press conference, Zhao said the policy effects of SPBs have continued to gain traction, with a number of major projects breaking ground and existing implicit debt being replaced in an orderly manner.
The "self-review and self-issuance" pilot program for SPB projects has been steadily expanded. This year, Hebei, Jiangxi, Hubei and Chongqing were added to the pilot. Under the pilot, provincial-level governments are authorized to review and approve local project lists without needing approval from the National Development and Reform Commission or the Ministry of Finance.
Zhao said the pilot regions have seen significantly faster bond issuance and fund utilization. By the end of June, the pilot regions had issued 1.6 trillion yuan in new SPBs, accounting for 77% of the national total.
Zhao also said the ministry will guide local governments to strengthen the full-cycle management of SPBs, accelerate fund disbursement to ensure tangible progress, strictly enforce the "negative list" management approach and expedite the establishment of debt service reserve systems.
Separate data from the ministry showed that in the first half, China's government-managed fund revenue fell 21.6% year on year to 1.52 trillion yuan, while expenditure dropped 16.4% to 3.87 trillion yuan. Local government-managed fund expenditure declined 8.8% to 3.65 trillion yuan.
(By Tang Yuxian)
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