China could offload up to $3 billion in US dollar bonds this month, the Wall Street Journal reports, raising funds at a time of growing uncertainty for the country’s markets and economic outlook.
This would mark China’s second dollar-bond sale in a year – the last coming in October 2017 – and its third since 2004.
The sources said that China’s finance ministry plans to begin marketing the products as early as next week, with the help of a dozen Chinese and global investment banks. The bonds will mature in five, 10 and 30 years and will be a regular issuer of sovereign debt, they added.
The selling of the US bonds will help set new interest-rate benchmarks for Chinese companies and local governments, which are a key driver of China’s debt issuance, said the sources. Despite recent blows to market confidence, the Journal points out that China remains an attractive borrower to global debt investors due to its hefty forex reserves and trade surplus.