China's Local Government Bonds To Hit A Record CNY7 Trillion-Herald

Sales of local government bonds in China this year will exceed CNY7 trillion to set a record, compared to the previous high of CNY6.44 trillion in 2020 amid a great fiscal expansion to offset the pandemic impact, the 21st Century Business Herald reported, also noting that the local government debt ratio has reached 100%. The local debt expansion this year is mainly due to the large increase in refinancing bonds which rose by 53% y/y to CNY2.9 trillion, aiming to help resolve local governments' off-balance-sheet debts and roll over matured government bonds, the newspaper said. Meanwhile, local governments are intensively reporting new infrastructure projects for 2022, and the central government may front-load some of next year's special bond quota to help promote these projects so to stabilize economic growth, the newspaper said citing insiders.