China’s cash-strapped local government sector is tapping international debt markets for the first time as Beijing gives the go-ahead to new funding channels for a sector saddled with $2.9tn in debts.
The Rmb1.2bn ($192.5m) dim sum bond offering from Beijing Subway comes just a month after the national government gave the green light to 10 of its least indebted provinces to issue bonds. Earlier this week Guangdong in China’s south became the first local government to issue domestic bonds under the new pilot.
China’s leadership has identified the rapid accumulation of local-government debt since 2008 as a key risk to financial stability and has ordered banks to limit new lending.