BIZCHINA / Finance |
Multi-purpose bondsBy ()
Updated: 2007-06-29 11:17 The biggest plus concerning special treasure bonds, a plan the Chinese government unveiled on Wednesday, will help address several of the country's economic dilemmas in one stroke. The national legislature debated on Wednesday a draft bill to authorize the Ministry of Finance to sell 1.55 trillion yuan ($200 billion) of special treasure bonds to fund the country's new State investment agency. This legislative step indicates that the country is to quicken its step to make more efficient use of growing foreign exchange reserves. If the bill is approved, the funds raised will be used to buy $200 billion of the country's total of $1.2 trillion foreign exchange reserves from the central bank and invested overseas. The immediate benefits of the bond issue are obvious. On one hand, it can directly reduce the size of China's forex reserves and ease the central bank's pressure to sterilize large foreign exchange inflows. Thanks to a soaring trade surplus and continuous inflow of foreign direct investment, China's foreign exchange reserves have increased very rapidly in recent years. And as China's forex reserves are likely to continue to rise, the central bank will face more pressure coping with excessive liquidity. The massive scale of the issue will surely allow the monetary authorities to breathe a little easier. On the other hand, the new bond will help drain the excessive liquidity in the home market and improve macro-economic control. Many people believed that excessive liquidity is one of the driving forces behind both the country's ongoing economic acceleration and an unprecedented stock boom. Hence, by mopping excessive liquidity, the bond issue will help prevent the national economy from overheating and guard against asset bubble. Besides, the new bonds are of long-term significance in many ways. With maturities of 10 years, the new bonds will help set a benchmark for long-term yields into the future to facilitate the development of a market-driven interest rates system. The latter is crucial to China's financial deepening and development. If properly invested, the funds raised through the bond issue will help improve the overall returns of the country's foreign exchange. More important, they can also help domestic enterprises do business abroad and enhance national economic competitiveness. (For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)
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