China's local govt bond issuance slows, pace to quicken

BEIJING -- China's local governments issued fewer bonds in February but the pace is set to quicken as authorities allocated additional quotas for new sales as part of the more proactive fiscal policies to shore up the virus-hit economy, official data showed Tuesday.

The value of local government bonds issued in February totaled 437.9 billion yuan (about $63 billion), down from 785 billion yuan in January, according to the Ministry of Finance (MOF).

However, as the MOF granted more quotas for new issuance, bond sales are set to accelerate this month to fund projects and spur investments to mitigate economic impacts from the novel coronavirus outbreak.

So far, the MOF has allocated 1.85 trillion yuan worth of new local government bonds ahead of schedule this year to shore up the economy.

The MOF data also showed outstanding local government debt amounted to 22.53 trillion yuan by the end of February.