China Steps up Government Bond Issuance in 2020 to Deal with COVID-19 Impacts

The Chinese government has highlighted a sharp increase in the issuance of sovereign bonds at various levels in order to mitigate the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

At a press conference held on 17 July the Ministry of Finance said that 2020 will see the issuance of one trillion yuan in special anti-COVID-19 sovereign bonds.

As of 16 July 12 batches have been issued worth 720 billion yuan, including 200 billion yuan in five-year bonds, 100 billion yuan in seven-year bonds and 420 billion yuan in 10 year bonds.

In order to deal with the impacts of the Novel Coronavirus the Chinese central government has also made arrangements for the issuance of 3.75 trillion yuan in new special bonds by local government in 2020, for an increase of 74.4% compared to 2019.

As of 14 July local governments around China had already issued 2.24 trillion yuan in new special bonds.

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