MNI China Press Digest Dec 26:Local Debt, Housing, Greater Bay

Highlights from Chinese press reports on Tuesday:

• Local governments including Jiangsu, Hebei and Shanxi provinces have begun bond-issuance preparations for 2024, with the scale likely to exceed CNY220 billion in Q1, Yicai.com reported. The Ministry of Finance is expected to front-load a part of next year’s local-bond quota this week, which the market estimates to be more than CNY2 trillion. While the pace of issuing these bonds may be slower given that bond sales in Q4 was quite large following CNY1.3 trillion of special refinancing bonds since October to swap out local implicit debts and an additional CNY1 trillion of China Governments Bonds issued in November, said Wen Laicheng, professor at Central University of Finance and Economics.
• First-tier cities are still likely to relax home purchase limits in suburban areas next year, while more major second-tier cities may completely lift purchase restrictions, alongside more smaller cities issuing housing subsidies to boost sales, financial news agency Cls.cn reported citing analysts. In 2024, authorities will focus on promoting affordable housing and urban village renovation, increasing financing support for developers and stabilising sales by reducing housing transaction taxes and fees and subsidising home purchases by families with multiple children.
• The National Development and Reform Commission said it would support the Guangdong province to pilot further relaxation of market access for Hong Kong and Macau investors, according to a three-year action plan aiming to foster a world leading business environment in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. It will study the further elimination, or relaxation of qualification requirements, shareholding ratios, industry access and other restrictions, and incorporate these into the framework of the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) between the mainland and Hong Kong and Macau. (Source: 21st Century Business Herald)