Aerial photo taken on March 22, 2022 shows the construction site of a health station at Shenyang International Exhibition Center in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning Province. (Xinhua/Yang Qing)
By the end of July, a total of 3.47 trillion yuan ($514.4 billion) of new special-purpose bonds had been issued in China, with localities having almost completed full issuance, half a year earlier than last year, data from China’s Ministry of Finance showed.
Special-purpose bonds are an important policy tool to address the economic downward pressure as well as boost investment, especially in the fields of infrastructure, manufacturing, and high-tech industries, analysts said.
As the issuance has sped up, local governments also strengthened the supervision of the use of funds through a number of measures including mandatory adjustment and amount cut for local governments.
In addition to the existing nine areas including transportation, ecology and public welfare, the use of the special-purpose bonds this year continue to expand especially in new energy and new infrastructure.
As the COVID-19 epidemic has been largely brought under effective control, a number of local governments have sped up the construction of infrastructure projects, in a bid to expand effective investment to further stabilize the economy.
As of the end of July, special bond funds had supported the construction of more than 26,100 projects, of which about 14,400 are under construction and about 11,700 are new projects.
In South China’s Guangdong Province, the cross-sea channel connecting Zhongshan and Shenzhen is under construction, with the main cable of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge already over half completed. The project has issued a total of 4.73 billion yuan of special-purpose bonds, of which, 377 million yuan is of new issues this year.
In Guigang’s Gangbei district in South China’s Guangxi, 92 percent of this year's special-purpose bonds have been invested in new energy projects, with a cumulative issue amount of 1.55 billion yuan, driving effective investment and complementing local industrial chain.
In addition, the special bonds enhanced the investment in benefiting people's livelihood and solving problems faced by ordinary people.
In Baoan district in Shenzhen, the construction project of a nursing home has issued a total of 179 million yuan of special bonds, and the main body of the project has been topped out and is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Global Times
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