MNI China Press Digest, Feb 28: Bonds, Fiscal, Epidemic

     BEIJING (MNI) - The following lists highlights from Chinese press reports

on Friday:

     The issuance of local government bonds in China will rise to a small peak

after many local authorities delayed issuance due to the Chinese New Year

holiday and the epidemic in February, the Securities Daily reports. CNY135.8

billion of bonds were set to be issued over four days since Feb. 20 with the

recent resumption of work, the Daily said. Of these bonds, infrastructure-backed

special bonds by local governments may hit CNY3.3 trillion for the whole year,

according to Wen Siji, analyst at New Time Securities. This compares to previous

market expectations of CNY3 trillion before the coronavirus outbreak, the

newspaper said. 

     China should speed up the transfer of shares in State-Owned Enterprises

(SOE) to social security funds as the epidemic weighs on fiscal revenues in

2020, China Securities Journal reports. Citing Wen Zongyu, director of the

Public Capital Research Center under the Chinese Academy of Fiscal Sciences, the

report said the government should use dividends from those shares as soon as

possible and establish a national coordination mechanism to help regions

experiencing economic hardship. China transferred CNY 1.3 trillion's worth of

shares in SOEs to social security funds in 2019, according to the Journal. 

     Senior Chinese medical adviser Zhong Nanshan says he is confident the

epidemic will be largely under control by the end of April, The Paper reported.

Zhong said mathematical modelling has predicted a peak of outbreaks after a

large number of people travelled back to cities for work. This peak in the

epidemic had not yet appeared amid the current peak of returning workers, Zhong

said. 

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86 (10) 8532-5998; email: wanxia.lin@marketnews.com

--MNI Sydney Bureau; +61 405322399; email: lachlan.colquhoun.ext@marketnews.com

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