83% of the new local debt quota has been used for the whole year

According to data released recently by the Ministry of Finance, by the end of July, 3393.1 billion yuan of local government bonds had been issued, of which 2552.9 billion yuan of new local government bonds had been added, accounting for 83% of the new local government debt limit (86.67 billion yuan of general bonds, 93% of special bonds, 1686.2 billion yuan of special bonds, 78%) in the whole year. The bank quota is 83.6% (95.9% for general bonds and 78.4% for special bonds); the refinancing bonds are 807.7 billion yuan (566.9 billion yuan for general bonds and 24.8 billion yuan for special bonds); and the replacement bonds are 32.5 billion yuan (14.2 billion yuan for general bonds and 18.3 billion yuan for special bonds).

In July, local governments issued 555.9 billion yuan of local government bonds, including 376.5 billion yuan of new local government bonds, 158.4 billion yuan of refinanced bonds and 21 billion yuan of replacement bonds.

Judging from the size of issuance, the data in July is lower than that in June. In June, local governments issued 899.6 billion yuan of local government bonds, including 717 billion yuan of new local government bonds, 17.11 billion yuan of refinanced bonds and 11.5 billion yuan of replacement bonds.

Judging from the issuance rate in July, the total average interest rate is 3.46%, the average interest rate of general bonds is 3.56%, and the average interest rate of special bonds is 3.42%. The June data show that the average interest rate for general bonds is 3.55%, the average interest rate for general bonds is 3.71%, and the average interest rate for special bonds is 3.46%.

In April this year, the Ministry of Finance issued the Opinions of the Ministry of Finance on Doing Well the Issuance of Local Government Bonds, pointing out that local governments should reasonably grasp the rhythm of issuance, effectively accelerate the pace of issuance of bonds, complete the issuance of new bonds in advance by June 2019, and strive to complete the issuance of new bonds in the whole year by the end of September. Wang Zhigang, a researcher at the Macroeconomic Center of the Chinese Academy of Financial Sciences, told the Securities Daily that the acceleration of the issuance of local bonds could better cope with the downward pressure of the economy, play a positive role in the steady growth and investment of special bonds, and also provide strong support to local governments. Fan Ruofeng, a researcher at the International Finance Research Institute of the Bank of China, told reporters that under the current internal and external economic situation, "stable investment" is one of the "six stable" policies, and its focus is to stabilize infrastructure investment. Since the end of last year, the growth rate of infrastructure investment has gradually stabilized, but restricted by capital, the improvement of the growth rate of infrastructure investment is not obvious. Speeding up the issuance of local bonds is conducive to the smooth implementation of infrastructure projects, and further play the role of infrastructure investment in stimulating economic growth.