The Chinese province of Jiangsu completed a landmark bond sale on Monday that marks the start of a massive local government debt bailout that some have described as quantitative easing with “Chinese characteristics”.
After an initial failure in April that forced the province to postpone its bond sale, the central government issued administrative orders, guarantees and preferential policies to convince state-owned banks to buy the bonds, the first in a wider Rmb1tn ($161bn) local government debt swap.
On Monday Jiangsu sold Rmb52.2bn with a coupon rate only slightly higher than equivalent sovereign Treasury rates, after the central bank capped the premium local governments could offer.