(ATF) Details have been announced of bond issues by local authorities in Henan and Jiangsu provinces.
Jiangsu provincial government has issued its second batch of 24.2 billion local government bonds for 2020.
The issue was through the Central Government Bonds Registration and Settlement Co Ltd using a process of public bidding. All the bonds are 10-year new general bonds and the interest rate is 3.06%, which is the lowest national bond interest rate this year. Funds raised are for construction – 426 public projects in the province with low financing costs, which will play an important role in the province’s response to impacts of the Covid-19 epidemic and the economic crisis it has caused.
In order to solve the problem of issuers visiting the tender site, the Ministry of Finance dispatched personnel to conduct on-site activities for issuers at the Central Government Bonds Registration and Clearance. The bidding ensured that the province successfully implemented the state’s decision to speed up the issuance and use local government bonds, so that issuance preparation work could be done in a timely manner.
Jiangsu’s Provincial Department of Finance comprehensively assessed interest rate trends, selecting the issuance window and getting officials to strictly control the quality of bond projects so that timely and accurately disclosed information on bond issuance was given out. That laid a solid foundation for the successful issuance of the bonds. Financial institutions in the province underwrote the bonds to overcome inconvenience caused by the epidemic. Some 58 members of the underwriting syndicate participated in the bidding, and 41 bids were won.
Meanwhile, information on Henan Provincial Government’s plan for general bonds (one to two issues) and special bonds (13 to 19 issues) was released on the government’s China Bond Information Platform.
The data shows that Henan plans to issue 43.633 billion local bonds, with a total value of 31.03-billion yuan (about US$4.4 billion) via general bonds (1st to 2nd period) in 2020. The varieties are book-entry fixed-rate interest-bearing bonds, all of which are 30-year bonds. The newly-increased bonds amount to 2.171 billion yuan, and the refinancing bonds amounted to 9.315 billion yuan.
In 2020, the Henan Provincial Government issued refinancing special bonds (Phase I) with a total value of 5.08 billion yuan. The varieties are book-entry fixed-rate interest-bearing bonds with a maturity of five years. All are refinancing bonds, which are used to repay Henan Province’s principal on the special government bond from 2017 (one term), which is due.
The 2020 Henan Provincial Ecological Environmental Protection and Infrastructure Special Bonds (Phase 1) and the 2020 Henan Provincial Government Special Bonds (14th Issue) is an issuance of 1.288 billion yuan with a term of 10 years, involving Anyang, Hebi, Jiaozuo, and 15 projects in 7 cities including Nanyang, Xinyang, Zhoukou and Zhumadian.
The 2020 Henan Province Environmental Protection and Infrastructure Special Bonds (Phase 2) and 2020 Henan Provincial Government Special Bonds (15th issue) issuance totals 1.281 billion yuan, and these have a term of 15 years and involve Anyang, Hebi, Kaifeng, with 13 projects in 10 cities, including Luoyang, Nanyang, Pingdingshan, Sanmenxia, Xinxiang, Zhoukou and Zhumadian.
The 2020 Henan Province Social Enterprise Special Bonds (Four Phases), plus the 2020 Henan Provincial Government Special Bonds (16 Phases) issue amount to 577 million yuan, and have a term of five years and involve a total of eight projects at the provincial level and in Xuchang City.
The 2020 Henan Province Social Enterprise Special Bonds (Five Phases) and 2020 Henan Provincial Government Special Bonds (17 Phases) issue amounts to 481 million yuan. These have a term of seven years and involve a total of six projects in Zhengzhou, Nanyang and Xinyang.
The 2020 Henan Province Social Enterprise Special Bonds (Six Phases) and 2020 Henan Provincial Government Special Bonds (18th Phase) were issued for a total amount of 2.292 billion yuan. They had a term of 10 years and involved a total of 24 projects in Zhengzhou City, Jiaozuo City, Kaifeng City, Luohe City, Pingdingshan City, Shangqiu City, Xinyang City, Xuchang City, Zhoukou City and Zhumadian City.
The 2020 Henan Social Enterprise Special Bonds (Seven Phases) and 2020 Henan Provincial Government Special Bonds (19 Phases) issue amount totalled 881 million yuan. These had a term of 15 years and involved Pingdingshan City, Liyang City, Sanmenxia City, Xinyang City. There were nine projects in Xuchang City and Zhumadian City.
