(ATF) – The Chinese Province of Hebei has issued 40.1-billion yuan (US$5.76 billion) of new government bonds, which will go to a raft of local infrastructure, social and ecological projects.
The provincial leaders of the area at the center of the Covid-19 outbreak, said the funds will be allocated to support infrastructure for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, the Beijing-Zhanghai high-speed rail line, the Shihengcang-Hong Kong intercity railway, ecological governance, and Zhengding District in the Hebei Free-Trade Pilot Area.
All up some 1,214 key economic and social development projects will get investment funds from this bond issue, it said.
The Provincial Department of Finance said it faced “complicated epidemic situations and arduous reform and development tasks,” but it “has always adhered to the two measures of ‘controlling the epidemic and promoting development’, and implemented a proactive fiscal policy to provide strong funding for the construction of key projects.”
The Provincial Department said it has formulated specific measures to use government bonds to support epidemic prevention and control, as well as supporting cities and counties to advance the allocation of funds, accelerate the construction of epidemic-related projects, and add support after issuing bonds.
For cities and counties with heavy epidemic prevention and control tasks, the allocation of bond quotas will be increased.
Local officials said 4.549-billion yuan would be allocated to 100 epidemic prevention and control projects, along with public medical and health capacity improvement projects.
The bond procedures were conducted online and include the issuance of 23.3-billion yuan worth of 30-year ultra-long-term bonds, that make up 58% of the total issue.
The 40-billion issue brings the province’s total issuance of government bonds to 61.8 billion yuan in 2020.
(Source: Hebei Daily)
