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China's central bank bills issuance to see big drop in 2009

By Xu Shenglan (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-01-06 16:30

China will issue a total of 4.5 trillion yuan ($659 billion) worth of bonds in 2009, down more than 36 percent from last year, China Government Securities Depository Trust & Clearing Co Ltd said in a report today.

The 4.5 trillion yuan plan includes 1.3 trillion yuan worth of treasury bonds, 1 trillion yuan worth of central bank bills, 1.2 trillion yuan worth of policy financial bonds, 860 billion yuan worth of corporate and medium and short-term bonds, as well as 160 billion yuan worth of other bonds.

According to the report, the issuance volume of treasury bonds will grow 60 percent to 1.3 trillion yuan, stimulated by a positive fiscal policy and a moderately loose monetary policy in 2009. It is also estimated that three policy banks, China Development Bank, Export-Import Bank of China and Agricultural Development Bank of China, will issue a total 1.2 trillion yuan worth of bonds in 2009.

The report showed that China's central bank will cut bills issuance by 70 percent to about 1 trillion yuan in 2009 and 2010 to better implement its loose monetary policy. The central bank bill's current 5-trillion-yuan balance will drop to 3.2 trillion yuan by the end of 2009 and 2.3 trillion yuan by the end of 2010, according to the report. Its issuance volume was 4.3 trillion yuan in 2008, accounting for 60 percent of the bond market.

Moreover, the central bank bills will be the main short-term investment instruments, due to few investment choices in short-term bond markets.