China’s local governments issued a net 9.8 billion yuan (S$1.9 billion) in special bonds in December, the finance ministry said on Sunday (Jan 29), slowing sharply from 45.5 billion yuan in November.

Local governments issued a net 4.04 trillion yuan in special bonds in 2022, the ministry said in a statement on its website.

Local governments, which nearly completed their bond issuance for infrastructure for 2022 by June, have been allowed to sell more debt since then to fund infrastructure projects.

The cabinet has told local governments to complete selling more than 500 billion yuan in special bonds under carryover quotas, on top of the annual quota of 3.65 trillion yuan. Chinese policymakers have sought to boost infrastructure spending to shore up the Covid-ravaged economy. Reuters