China: Examining Local Governments' Special Debt

On Oct. 12, China unveiled more details of its stimulus package. The finance ministry said the central government would assist local administrations with their debt burdens, recapitalize banks and support the property market.

Special-purpose bonds issued by local governments will be in focus as these measures are rolled out. For instance, proceeds from these debt sales – usually associated with state-led infrastructure projects, such as transport or utilities – can be used to buy homes from developers and convert them to affordable housing.

This is a big debt market. Our chart pack shows how CEIC users can look at it from all angles.

In these visualizations, we break down local governments’ issuance between special and general categories; compare different provinces; and run year-to-date analyses, showing how sales of different maturities have tended to be clustered in certain months, for instance – or demonstrating how 2023 stood out for refinancing's versus other calendar years.