A new management method to be adopted this year will help manage
China's national debt in a more effective way and reduce related
risks, the Ministry of
Finance has pledged.
In a report submitted to a plenary session of the 10th National
People's Congress (NPC)?which opened yesterday, the ministry
said the new system will replace a 25-year-old practice of setting
annual quotas on treasury bond issuance, which has been less
effective in controlling the scale of national debt and ensuring an
optimal term structure, analysts say.
Under the old system, the Ministry of Finance tended to issue
long-term bonds, which put less repayment pressure than short-term
debt, but led to high levels of national debt.
China's debt amount stood at 2.9 trillion yuan (US$358 billion)
at the end of 2004, accounting for 21.6 percent of the gross
domestic product, which was still far below an internationally
recognized 'alarm line' of 60 percent.
This year will likely witness a surge in the issuance of
short-term treasury bonds, or those due to be repaid in less than
one year, which will help meet the market's long-standing thirst
for such products, and possibly drive down prices of financial
instruments with corresponding terms and improve yields, according
to Hu Weidong, an analyst with Xiangcai Securities.
The Ministry of Finance's treasury bond issuance plan for the
first quarter of this year announced last month notably included a
three-month tranche--unseen in many years.
The anticipated availability of short-term treasury bonds will
also give the central bank a better chance to mop up excess
liquidity in the money market, analysts commented.
Chiefly due to a dearth of short-term treasury bonds, China's
central bank has been issuing short-term central bank bills in the
past few years to reduce the amount of liquidity in the banking
system. Excess liquidity is partly a result of the central bank's
purchase of excess dollars in the market which aimed to enforce the
trading band of the renminbi.
Central bank bills bring the State higher costs and influence
long-term interest rates in an undesired way.
Analysts have also warned against increasing the issuance of
short-term treasury bonds too rapidly.?
Short-term treasury bonds may dampen demand for corporate bonds
with similar terms, which in China are probably less attractive to
investors largely due to the higher risks. But Chinese companies
are still struggling to raise more funds in the bond market, as the
stock market and banking sector fail to provide adequate
funding.
(China Daily March 6, 2006)