Our reporter Bao Xing’an
On December 12, the Ministry of Finance announced that the Ministry of Finance issued 750 billion yuan of special treasury bonds on December 12, with a coupon rate of 2.48%. Bond buyout transactions, buying 750 billion yuan of special treasury bonds from primary dealers in the open market.
According to the announcement of the Ministry of Finance, the current special treasury bonds are issued in the national inter-bank bond market to relevant domestic banks, and can be listed and traded. The current special treasury bond is a fixed-rate interest-bearing bond with a term of 3 years. It is planned to issue 750 billion yuan, and the actual issuance is 750 billion yuan. The coupon rate is 2.48%. The interest of the current special treasury bond is paid on an annual basis, and the interest is paid on December 12 every year (the holiday is postponed), and the principal is repaid and the last interest is paid on December 12, 2025.
On December 10, the relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Finance stated that in December 2022, 750 billion yuan of the 2007 special national debt will soon expire. With the approval of the State Council, the Ministry of Finance will continue the practice of 2017 and continue to issue 750 billion yuan of special treasury bonds in 2022 to relevant banks in a rolling manner, and the funds raised will be used to repay the principal of the 2007 special treasury bonds due that month.
It is worth noting that the maturity of the “07 Special National Bond 07” is 15 years and the coupon rate is 4.45%, while the term of the renewed national bond is only 3 years and the coupon rate is 2.48%. This means that the term of the renewed special treasury bonds has been greatly shortened and the interest rate has been significantly lowered.
Wang Qing, the chief macro analyst of Oriental Jincheng, told the reporter of “Securities Daily” that the issuance rate is mainly driven by the central bank’s two cuts in policy interest rates this year. Despite the recent rebound in government bond yields, they are still at a low level overall. The interest rate of the special treasury bonds issued this time is 2.48%, and the issuance cost has dropped, which is also reflected in the optimization of the government debt structure.
Talking about the impact on the market, the relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Finance stated that the issuance of special treasury bonds in 2022 will be issued in a market-oriented manner, strictly in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, and will be issued to relevant banks in the national inter-bank bond market. The issuance process will not involve social investors. Individuals cannot purchase. The 2022 special treasury bond is an equal-amount rolling issue of the 2007 special treasury bond, which still corresponds to the original assets and liabilities and will not increase the fiscal deficit.
He Daixin, director of the Financial Research Office of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Financial Strategy Research Institute, told the “Securities Daily” reporter that 750 billion yuan of special treasury bonds are issued to institutions, and the liquidity has not changed significantly. For institutions, it helps to enrich the investment structure and asset structure.
Wang Qing said that the special treasury bonds issued this time are not newly issued, so they will not increase the scale of government debt. However, the continued issuance of the special treasury bonds at the current point still arouses widespread concern in the market, reflecting the policy intention of maintaining a positive fiscal orientation. This will help ease the tension in fiscal revenue and expenditure this year, provide necessary financial support for steady growth at the end of the year and the beginning of the year, and especially help the central government maintain its ability to regulate funds and reduce debt repayment pressure.
“Generally speaking, special treasury bonds are issued in response to special circumstances and circumstances. Whether to issue special treasury bonds next year will depend on the needs of economic and social development. All parties can pay attention to next year’s fiscal policy needs, budgetary deficits, and debt issuance. .” He Daixin said.
(Editor: Wen Jing)