SCIO briefing on promoting high-quality development: National Development and Reform Commission

Market News International:

The NDRC recently expressed support for high-quality Chinese companies to borrow medium- and long-term foreign debt. Which industries and fields will this policy be mostly focused on? Thank you.

Zhao Chenxin:

Thank you for your question. Borrowing foreign debt, particularly medium- and long-term foreign debt, is a very important aspect of effectively utilizing foreign capital and expanding bilateral openness in China. Recently, to further enhance the convenience of cross-border investment and financing for enterprises, the NDRC has issued a notice supporting high-quality enterprises in obtaining medium- and long-term foreign debt to promote high-quality development of the real economy. It proposes a series of practical measures and related requirements, including appropriate simplification of the approval and registration requirements, streamlining the procedures, and preventing risks associated with foreign debt.

I'd like to briefly introduce it further. We have two main considerations for high-quality enterprises subject to relevant policies and measures. On the one hand, we focus on enterprises with prominent industry status and good credit. We aim to support competitive and creditworthy enterprises by reasonably lending them medium- to long-term foreign debt. This improves capital use efficiency based on the basis of their main operating financial indicators and credit ratings. Our goal is to improve the quality and standing of Chinese enterprises' overseas bonds overall and reduce risks such as debt default. On the other hand, we consider enterprises that play a leading role in promoting the high-quality development of the real economy. We treat companies of all industries, fields and ownership types equally, in line with national macro regulation and industrial policies. We support more high-quality enterprises in borrowing foreign debt according to their business development needs. This approach aims to better leverage foreign debt funds to serve high-quality development.

That is all from me for this question. Thank you.