MNI China Press Digest June 22: Bonds, Pro-Growth, Rural Banks

The following lists highlights from Chinese press reports on Wednesday:

• The issuance of local government bonds in June is expected to hit a new high this year, likely exceeding CNY1.5 trillion, the China Securities Journal reported. The incremental debt funds will support local fiscal spending in the next two months, as it is expected to leverage trillions of funds to promote infrastructure investment, the newspaper said citing Zuo Yiming, senior analyst at Pengyuan International. According to the current issuance plans, all the CNY3.65 trillion of infrastructure-backed special bonds set for this year will be basically sold by end-June as scheduled, the newspaper said.
• China will increase macro policy intensity, and plan incremental policy tools ahead, so to effectively manage risks and keep the economy operating within a reasonable range, the Securities Times reported citing the Minister of Finance Liu Kun speaking to the National People’s Congress Standing Committee on Tuesday. China is facing growing pressure to balance fiscal revenue and expenditure, requiring hard work to complete the budget target this year, Liu was cited as saying. The national general public budget revenue in the first five months was CNY8.67 trillion, falling 10.1% y/y, while the budget expenditure was CNY9.91 trillion, rising 5.9% y/y, the newspaper said.
• More Chinese rural banks will be restructured as regulators speed up risk disposal, Yicai.com reported citing analysts following a brewing banking scandal in Central China’s Henan Province. China has a total 1,651 rural banks in China, even more than the number of counties, and 122 of them were labeled as high-risk institutions by the central bank as of Q2 2021, accounting for about 29% of all high-risk institutions, the newspaper said. Rural banks in general bear higher non-performing loan ratios than other banks, with the NPL rate standing at 4% in 2020, which compared to the 2% of city commercial banks and 2.4% of rural commercial banks, Yicai said citing a report by HuaAn Securities.