Shanghai Securities News reporter combing special bond information network data show that as of March 27, local bonds have been issued more than one trillion yuan this year, of which new bond issuance accounted for nearly half.

Experts said that with the steady growth policy continued to exert force, the issuance of new special bonds has accelerated significantly since February this year, showing the characteristics of fiscal policy. It is expected that the issuance of local bonds in the first three quarters will increase moderately, and the overall balance will be maintained throughout the year, forming a strong support for infrastructure investment.

The local government bond issuance plan in the second quarter has been disclosed to exceed 800 billion yuan

Since February, the pace of local bond issuance has accelerated. Public data show that as of March 27, local bonds have been issued 1,486.9 billion yuan this year, of which 762.8 billion yuan of new bonds have been issued.

From the perspective of issuers, the scale of local bond issuance exceeds 100 billion yuan for Shandong and Guangdong; The top three regions for new special bond issuance were Guangdong, Shandong and Henan.

"Under the overall consideration of stabilizing growth and preventing risks, the amount of new special bonds will be increased slightly this year, focusing on improving the efficiency of the use of bond funds." Wen Bin, chief economist at China Minsheng Bank.

Wen Bin further said that the allocation of special debt quotas is tilted toward areas with adequate project preparation and higher investment efficiency. For provinces where the proportion of local debt limits used in previous years is not high or where the benefits are insufficient, the allocation of the new limits for the next year will be appropriately reduced. As of the end of last year, the stock of bonds in strong qualification areas such as Guangdong, Shandong and Jiangsu ranked first, exceeding 1.5 trillion yuan, while the balance of special bonds in weak qualification areas was generally less than 800 billion yuan.

Although the issuance of new special bonds has accelerated, the issuance progress is still significantly behind the same period in previous years. In this regard, Huang Weiping, chief of Xingzheng Solid Income, believes that by the impact of increased issuance of national debt in the fourth quarter of last year, the overall pace of new special bonds issuance in the first quarter of this year is slow, and with the phased weakening of the impact of national debt issuance, new special bonds may be issued in April to May.

Public information shows that as of March 24, the local government has disclosed the local bond issuance plan of 815.1 billion yuan in the second quarter, of which 482.9 billion yuan of new bonds (including 414.5 billion yuan of special bonds) and 332.2 billion yuan of refinancing bonds. The top three regions in the issuance scale of new special bond programs are Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Jiangsu, and the combined issuance scale of the three places accounts for 51% of the total issuance scale of new special bond programs.

We will appropriately expand the areas in which special bonds are invested and the areas in which they are used as capital

From the perspective of the investment of bond funds, the special bond funds that have been issued are mainly invested in municipal and industrial park infrastructure, transportation infrastructure, agriculture, forestry and water conservancy projects, shantytown renovation, old residential renovation, etc., focusing on the field of infrastructure.

Among them, the proportion of investment in infrastructure has increased significantly. The data show that in the first two months, 71% of the new special bonds issued for project construction were invested in the infrastructure sector, significantly higher than 63% last year. In the subdivision of investment, the top three are still municipal and park, social undertakings, security housing projects, respectively 41%, 13%, 12%.

Liu Susshe, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that improving the efficiency of government investment and giving full play to the driving role of government investment is the key to this year's investment work. In the next step, the National Development and Reform Commission will optimize the fields of investment, appropriately expand the scope of local government special bonds to be invested in and used as capital, and strengthen the overall coordination and dislocation of various types of government investment. Enhance the overall vitality of all types of funds.

In the view of Yuan Haixia, executive director of the China Credit International Research Institute, the application scope of special bonds as capital can continue to support existing fields such as transportation, and actively explore eligible projects in the fields of municipal pipe network, information infrastructure, new energy and other areas with greater capital demand, strong income security ability, and more favored market financing.

"The investment areas of special bonds have been gradually expanded to 11, and the scope of special bonds used as project capital has also been expanded to 13." Wen Bin said that in the next stage, eligible urban village renovation projects are expected to be included in the scope of special debt support, and the multiplier effect may play a greater role in mobilizing early investment.

Policy "combination" to promote the expansion of effective investment

In terms of improving the efficiency of government investment this year, the total amount of funds, including local special bonds and ultra-long-term special government bonds, will exceed 6 trillion yuan.

In addition, the National Development and Reform Commission has specially established a scheduling mechanism for additional national debt projects. Liu Susshe introduced that from the current situation, the construction of relevant projects is being accelerated in an orderly manner, such as the operation rate of projects in Beijing and Hebei reached 48% and 45% respectively.

Yuan Haixia suggested that we should make good use of the coordination mechanism for effective investment important projects and strengthen multi-departmental coordination. Improve the declaration and use mechanism and the construction of supporting facilities, open up a "green channel" for special debt projects, and promote the formation of physical workload as soon as possible.

The moderate pace of fiscal expenditure has also opened up room for economic growth expectations to rise. Data from the Ministry of Finance show that in the first two months of this year, the national general public budget expenditure increased by 6.7% year-on-year, and the progress of completing the annual budget was 15.3%, the fastest expenditure progress in the same period in nearly five years.

"From the perspective of the fiscal expenditure in the first two months, there are both aggregate and structural effects, which will play a positive role in promoting macroeconomic recovery, promoting economic restructuring and promoting social capital investment." Liao Min, deputy finance minister. Editor/Xu Shengpeng