撰写
On August 27th, in 2020, 1.4 billion yuan of general bonds (Phase III) and 16.5 billion yuan of special bonds (Phase 57-77) of Shenzhen Municipal Government were successfully issued. Up to now, Shenzhen has issued government bonds totaling 48.2 billion yuan this year. The picture shows the bidding and issuance site of Shenzhen municipal government bonds in 2020. (Photo courtesy of Shenzhen Finance Bureau)
In recent years, as an effective starting point of proactive fiscal policy, the scale of new issuance of local government special bonds has been increasing, and the rapid growth of new special bonds has played an important role in improving public services, promoting economic growth and preventing hidden debt risks of local governments. In the process of hedging the downward pressure on the economy and responding to the challenge of COVID-19 epidemic, what kind of vitality has the special debt injected into the local economy? How can this "front door" for local governments to regulate debt financing be opened better? In response to these problems, the Economic Daily reporter recently went deep into Chongqing, Hunan and other places for investigation and interview.
In Chongqing in August, the temperature is close to 40℃. Under the scorching sun, the reporter from Economic Daily came to the first phase project site of Chongqing University Industrial Technology Research Institute in Chongqing High-tech Zone. Under the towering tower crane, a 10-story building wrapped in blue film cloth has risen from the ground. "In mid-July, after 120 million yuan of special debt funds were put in place, our progress was significantly accelerated, and the amount of work in one day was three times that of the original." As the owner of the project, Zhou Junfeng, deputy general manager of Chongqing Jinfeng Electronic Information Industry Co., Ltd., kept praising this special debt fund for solving the urgent need.
There are many special debt projects under construction like this. This year, China arranged 3.75 trillion yuan of local government special bonds, an increase of 1.6 trillion yuan over the previous year. As of July 31st, 2266.1 billion yuan of new local government special bonds have been issued, accounting for 60.4% of the annual plan, and the remaining special bonds are expected to be issued before the end of October.
Many people are unfamiliar with "special debt", but it is closely related to people’s daily life. "Local government special bonds are an important category for local governments to regulate borrowing. Since 2015, according to the new budget law, local governments have creditor’s rights according to law, mainly by issuing bonds. The types of local government bonds include general bonds and special bonds. " Zhao Quanhou, director of the Financial Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Fiscal Science, told reporters that the issuance of special bonds is mainly invested in public welfare projects with certain income, and the corresponding government fund subjects and special bond financing projects are used as repayment.
How strong is the expansion of bond issuance?
In mid-July, Hunan Airport Group welcomed 10 guests who came to "pick holes". It turns out that as a special bond project with the largest single investment scale and the largest amount of bond financing in Hunan, the renovation and expansion project of Changsha Airport introduced an external supervision mechanism, and strictly selected and hired 10 special supervisors from different industries to make suggestions for the project.
The project is expected to invest more than 40 billion yuan, of which 16 billion yuan is special bond funds, which will build a comprehensive transportation hub integrating public transport, high-speed rail, subway, magnetic levitation and terminal building seamlessly, effectively filling the shortcomings of civil aviation infrastructure in Hunan Province.
"In recent years, the scale of new issuance of local government special bonds has been increasing, from 100 billion yuan in 2015 to 3.75 trillion yuan this year. The rapid growth of the scale of new special bonds plays an important role in improving public services, promoting economic growth and preventing hidden debt risks of local governments. " Zhao Quanhou said.
The reporter found that with the expansion and acceleration of the issuance of special bonds, the pace of innovation has become more active and powerful. "Compared with previous years, this year, the number of special bonds issued in Shenzhen has increased from 9 in 2019 to 15, and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area’s major national strategies, preschool education, social undertakings, cultural tourism, comprehensive parking lots and other fields that meet national requirements have been added." Huang Yun, director of the Budget Department of Shenzhen Finance Bureau, said that this year, Shenzhen also issued 1 billion yuan of special bonds for the first time for the project capital in the Shenzhen section of Shenmao Railway.
Walking into the command center for the construction of digital intelligence in the Science Valley of China West (Chongqing) Science City, a variety of intelligent management platforms came into view, and an all-round digital atmosphere came to my face. The reporter noticed that a "project collaborative management platform" was displayed on an electronic big screen, with multiple channels, such as project general control, investment control, design management, schedule control, quality management and safety management, which can view the progress and relevant data in real time.
In the command center, Tu Jinghong, general manager of Chongqing High-tech Zone Development and Investment Group Co., Ltd. told the reporter that this year, the special debt project of Huanzhai Shanping Industrial Belt and Hangu Intelligent Manufacturing Industrial Park was undertaken, and 760 million yuan of special debt funds have been put in place. The project is progressing smoothly.
Behind the active innovation in various places is the deepening of the reform of special debt management at the national level. "This year, local government special bonds will focus on supporting ‘ Two new and one heavy ’ Construction, etc., strictly restrict the use of special debt funds for housing-related projects, which fully reflects the positive and pragmatic fiscal policy. " Mao Jie, director of the Department of Finance and Taxation of university of international business and economics, said.
In June 2019, the General Offices of the General Office of the Central Committee of the CPC and the State Council issued the Notice on Doing a Good Job in the Issuance of Special Bonds by Local Governments and Supporting Financing for Projects, which clearly stated that special bonds were allowed to be used as qualified capital for major projects. Mao Jie believes that this move will coordinate the "opening the front door" and "strictly blocking the back door" of local government debt, so that special debts can better play their leverage and pilot effects. According to statistics, in the first quarter of this year, a total of 67.63 billion yuan of special debt was used as capital, which was mainly invested in 130 projects nationwide. Last year, the scale was 6.813 billion yuan and there were 9 projects.
How to optimize the investment of funds
"noisy and chaotic!" At one time, there were many people and vehicles in the comprehensive market area in the south of jiangjin district, Chongqing, and large trucks came in and out. The vehicles stopped and put them in disorder, which made the nearby residents very headache. In August last year, the parking garage project of Chengnan comprehensive market started construction and was put into use in mid-August this year. "This project is strongly supported by bond funds, of which 10 million yuan of special bond funds have been arranged. 198 parking spaces have been added to the parking lot in the downtown area, which has greatly solved the troubles of the masses. " Zheng Hong, deputy director of Chongqing jiangjin district Finance Bureau, told the reporter.
Optimize the investment of bond funds, and it is strictly forbidden to replace existing debts, and it is absolutely forbidden to engage in image projects and face projects — — This is the management requirement for new local government special bonds this year. Strictly implemented in all localities, precious special debt funds will be really used to benefit people’s livelihood and make up for shortcomings, and a number of major projects will be promoted to accelerate the release of energy efficiency.
The funds are used in the "cutting edge" to make some places have more water resources. On May 28th, Hunan Province issued 43.102 billion yuan of new government special bonds on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, including 1.2 billion yuan of bonds corresponding to the Jiaohua Reservoir Project, with a maturity of 30 years and an interest rate of 3.75%. As a basic project to solve the shortage of water resources in the eastern economic corridor of Changsha, the project can improve the flood control system of Liuyang River basin, improve the downstream water ecological environment and realize the regional water system connection.
Funds are used in the "cutting edge" to make transportation more convenient in some places. The total investment of the Shenzhen Airport Satellite Hall project is 10.57 billion yuan, and in 2019, 1.85 billion yuan of special debt has been issued, and 3.15 billion yuan has been issued this year. The design scale of the satellite hall is 235,000 square meters, and it will be built according to the annual passenger throughput of 22 million passengers. After completion, it will greatly enhance the infrastructure support capacity of Shenzhen Airport.
Funds are used in the "cutting edge" to make it easier to see a doctor in some places. The new construction project of Jiangbei District People’s Hospital in Chongqing has a total investment of 3.72 billion yuan, and it is planned to be completed within three years. According to the progress of the project construction, 44 million yuan of special bond funds have been allocated for the project this year. The planned land area of the project is 48,600 square meters, including emergency department, outpatient department, inpatient department, medical technology auxiliary department, prevention and health care center, etc., which will further improve the medical service system in Jiangbei District and serve the health of the people.
"As of the end of July, the Ministry of Finance issued a new special bond quota of 105.4 billion yuan in Chongqing in 2020, and has successfully issued 67.4 billion yuan, all of which have been allocated to relevant units at the district, county and municipal levels." Mou Chaoqi, deputy director of the Government Debt Management Office of Chongqing Finance Bureau, said that these bond funds are concentrated in key areas such as transportation infrastructure, medical and health care, agriculture, forestry and water conservancy, ecological and environmental protection, and municipal and industrial park construction.
He Weiwen, deputy director of the Hunan Provincial Department of Finance, said that at present, 91.1 billion yuan of new special bonds have been issued in Hunan, mainly in the areas of park construction of 42.6604 billion yuan (accounting for 4.683%), transportation infrastructure of 20.17 billion yuan (accounting for 2.214%), social undertakings of 15.2738 billion yuan (accounting for 1.677%) and water construction of 10.3758 billion yuan (accounting for 1.11%).
"Stable investment means stable economy. In the western region, the importance of investment is more obvious. " Gao Jiupeng, director of the Finance Bureau of Chongqing High-tech Zone, is deeply touched by this. He told reporters that the timely issuance of special debts eased the pressure on local finance to invest in project construction, which helped to better prevent debt risks and attracted more social capital to follow up. At present, Chongqing High-tech Zone is actively carrying out more in-depth cooperation with national policy banks, commercial banks and large central enterprises, effectively leveraging social capital investment through project loans, PPP and other forms. It is estimated that more than 4 billion yuan of bond funds will be used to attract more than 20 billion yuan of social capital.
What are the practical measures to strengthen project management?
With the increase of government borrowing, how to improve the efficiency of the use of special debt funds and effectively prevent risks has become a necessary question. "We consider from ‘ Borrow, use, manage and return ’ Strengthen management in all aspects and maximize the efficiency of capital use. " Liu Kun, Minister of Finance, pointed out that "borrowing" means reasonably grasping the rhythm of issuance; "Use" means to optimize the investment of bond funds; "Management" means to speed up the use of funds; "Repayment" means to fulfill the statutory debt repayment responsibility.
"The financial department will effectively manage and make good use of special bond funds, firmly hold the bottom line where systemic risks do not occur, and will never relax risk management and control to solve short-term problems." Liu Kun said.
In July this year, the Ministry of Finance issued the Notice on Accelerating the Issuance and Use of Special Bonds by Local Governments, which put forward a number of measures, such as strictly adding a negative list of special bonds, accelerating the use of new special bond funds, increasing the disclosure of special bond information according to law, and improving the notification and interview mechanism and supervision mechanism.
All localities have made great efforts to manage and make good use of special debt funds around the above requirements. Wan Chuanjiang, director of the Finance Bureau of Jiangbei District, Chongqing, told reporters that the amount of special debt in Jiangbei District has increased significantly this year, from less than 1 billion yuan in previous years to more than 1.8 billion yuan this year. "The increase in the scale of special debt has put forward higher requirements for the project reserve and screening at the grassroots level, especially the preliminary preparation must be refined. Since last year, we have cooperated with relevant departments to screen and evaluate projects to ensure that projects and funds can be better connected. " Wan Chuanjiang said.
Shenzhen gives priority to supporting projects with complete procedures, perfect preparatory work and construction conditions, giving priority to ensuring the capital demand of projects under construction, and it is strictly forbidden to keep bond funds in the state treasury or precipitate them in departmental units. Among the 77 special bonds issued in Shenzhen this year, the proportion of projects under construction is as high as 94.1%, and the other projects are also in the preparatory stage.
According to Gao Jiupeng, the financial department of Chongqing High-tech Zone has further improved the special debt risk index system, and made timely assessment and early warning to ensure that the budgeted debt repayment capacity of the year can cover the bond debt service and exceed a certain range.
Information disclosure is an important way to optimize the management of special debt. On December 31, 2019, the Ministry of Finance officially launched the trial operation of China’s local government bond information disclosure platform. The reporter opened the platform website and saw several columns such as bond information, monthly data, quarterly data and annual data. Click on "Bond Information" to see the bond information sorted by issuing time. In each data column, there are both national total data and regional statistics, which are clear at a glance.
The reporter learned from the financial departments of many places that in order to effectively prevent and control debt risks, all localities insist that special bonds must be used for public welfare projects with certain income, and insist on a balance between project income and financing. It is strictly prohibited to pay wages, unit operating expenses, pensions, interest payments, etc., and it is strictly prohibited to replace debts and subsidize industrial projects and enterprises that are commercialized.
At the same time, in order to speed up the use of new special bond funds, all localities rely on the local government debt management information system to implement penetrating and whole-process monitoring of the issuance and use of special bonds, and dynamically monitor various participants such as local finance, relevant competent departments and project units.
Zhao Quanhou believes that in order to play the role of special bonds more effectively, it is necessary to complete the issuance progress of special bonds on schedule and ensure the supply of funds for bond projects. At the same time, it is necessary to rationally allocate special bond funds, pay attention to coordinating special bond funds with other forms of financial funds, and further improve the efficiency of fund use.
"Without the strong support of special debt, some good projects may have to wait for three or four years. As a local government department, we must seize the opportunity, improve the efficiency of capital use, land more livelihood projects, and contribute to creating a better life for the people. " Li Jia, director of jiangjin district Finance Bureau, said.