In 2022, the issuance of local government bonds will be officially launched, and 1.15 trillion yuan will be issued in the first quarter of the 20 places – Xinhua English.news.cn

Original title: In 2022, the issuance of local government bonds will officially start, and 20 places plan to issue 1.15 trillion yuan in the first quarter

Our reporter Bao Xing’an

On January 13, Henan Province took the lead in issuing 38.201 billion yuan of new special bonds, becoming the first province in the country to issue local bonds in 2022. Hubei Province will issue 18.4 billion yuan of new general bonds on January 14.

The issuance of new local bonds this year is much earlier than in 2021. The issuance of new local bonds only started in March last year, and 36.4 billion yuan was issued that month.

According to statistics disclosed by local finance departments, as of January 13, 20 provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, and cities under separate state planning, including Beijing, Guangxi, and Heilongjiang, have announced local bond issuance plans. About 428.55 billion yuan of local government bonds were issued, and regarding 1.15 trillion yuan of local government bonds are planned to be issued in the first quarter.

He Daixin, director of the Financial Research Office of the Institute of Financial and Economic Strategy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the “Securities Daily” reporter that local government bonds, as the main driver of a proactive fiscal policy, are fully playing a role in stabilizing investment and growth. Specifically, some projects with earlier construction plans and more urgent capital needs have become the focus of this round of bond issuance.

On a monthly basis, the data shows that the above-mentioned 20 regions plan to issue 428.55082 billion yuan of local bonds in January, of which 329.5335 billion yuan will be newly issued (the new general bond issuance will be 103.5305 billion yuan, and the new special bonds will be 226.003 billion yuan). ), and refinancing bonds issued 99.01732 billion yuan.

On a quarterly basis, the data shows that the above-mentioned 20 regions plan to issue 1,146.38685 billion yuan of local bonds in the first quarter, of which 888.035 billion yuan of new local bonds (183.434 billion yuan of new general bonds and 704.601 billion yuan of new special bonds) , 258.35185 billion yuan of refinancing bonds were issued.

Guo Yiming, director of investment consulting at Jufeng Investment Consulting, told a reporter from Securities Daily that the issuance of new local bonds this year was earlier than last year, mainly because the pressure on stable growth in the first quarter was greater, and special bonds became an important force for fiscal policy.

He Daixin said that the project capital demand and capital operation determine the progress of the issuance of local bonds. Therefore, in essence, it is necessary to speed up the issuance of local bonds, improve capital efficiency, and pay close attention to projects and engineering construction.

The executive meeting of the State Council held on January 10 pointed out that we should promptly issue the special bonds issued this year, make good use of the investment in the central budget, focus on arranging projects under construction and those that can be started as soon as possible, and leverage more social investment, and strive to form a form in the first quarter. More physical workload.

In December last year, the Ministry of Finance had issued an advance limit of 1.46 trillion yuan for new special debts in 2022 to all regions. It is clear that the special bonds in 2022 will be mainly used in nine fields including transportation infrastructure, energy, major national strategic projects, and affordable housing projects.

Guo Yiming believes that the early release of the special debt quota will provide financial guarantee for major projects, help infrastructure investment to rebound, and then help economic growth.

He Daixin said that this year’s major projects should be grasped as early as possible, which is related to the economic situation and also related to the early start of work arrangements. In the past two years, there have been large and small months in the issuance of local bonds, mainly due to fluctuations in project funding requirements and major task plans. This year, on the basis of learning from the experience of previous years, special bond issuance has been prepared in advance, giving full play to the role of bond funds in stabilizing economic operation, and implementing proactive fiscal policies more accurately.

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