China’s local governments have almost used up their bond quotas for this year, according to figures released by China’s Ministry of Finance, after Beijing urged them to speed up bond sales to boost infrastructure investment amid an ongoing economic slowdown, reported Caixin.
Local governments issued RMB 3.04 trillion ($430 billion) worth of new bonds in the first nine months of this year, collectively using up 98.6% of the total new bond quota for the year approved by the National People’s Congress (NPC), the country’s top legislator, the official data shows. That’s up from 92.3% in the first nine months of 2018, according to Caixin’s calculation based on official data. The quota doesn’t include government bonds issued for repaying outstanding debts.
As of the end of last month, of the 37 local entities subject to the quota — including 31 provincial-level regions and five cities — 35 had completely maxed out their limits, according to Caixin’s calculation based on data from the finance ministry and state-owned clearing house China Central Depository & Clearing Co. Ltd.