Bloomberg:

Fiscal spending actually contracted in the first several months of last year. How will China pace fiscal spending and central and local government bond sales throughout this year? Secondly, what is the front-loaded quota for new local special bonds and general bonds this year, and how does it compare with last year? Thank you.

Li Xianzhong:

Thank you for your questions. Your questions actually involve two aspects: fiscal spending arrangements and government bond issuance arrangements.

Regarding fiscal spending arrangements, you just mentioned that fiscal spending contracted in the first few months of last year. In fact, during January-May 2023, the national general public budget expenditure reached 10.48 trillion yuan, an increase of 580 billion yuan compared to the same period in 2022, representing a growth of 5.8%. It should be noted that fiscal spending was substantial and progressed rapidly in the initial five months of last year. However, in June and July last year, the national general public budget expenditure slightly declined, mainly due to a one-time large expenditure during the same period in 2022. That raised the base and led to a temporary decrease in the growth rate in June and July 2023. It was in line with expectations, and there was no contraction in fiscal spending. Looking at the whole of last year, as Mr. Wang Dongwei just mentioned, the national general public budget expenditure exceeded 27 trillion yuan for the year, up 5.4% year on year. The expenditure reached a new high, demonstrating the effectiveness of proactive fiscal policies and providing strong support for economic recovery.

Regarding this year's fiscal expenditure plans, as vice minister Wang Dongwei mentioned, we are currently detailing and refining these plans in line with the directives of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council. These plans will be announced to the public following the approval of the NPC according to standard procedures. What I can confirm is that, in 2024, we will maintain the necessary intensity of fiscal spending.

These are some of our arrangements for government bond issuance. For national bonds, we plan to front-load the issuance within the NPC-approved ceiling for the outstanding balance to support necessary spending intensity. For local government bonds, under the requirements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, and as authorized by the NPC Standing Committee, the MOF has established and improved a management system since 2019 to allocate in advance new local government debt limits. This guides local governments to improve budget management and reasonably schedule the issuance of new local government bonds, effectively reducing financing costs and accelerating fund allocation. According to our statistics, from the establishment of this system in 2019 to 2023, the MOF allocated new local government debt limits of 1.39 trillion, 2.85 trillion, 2.36 trillion, 1.79 trillion, and 2.62 trillion yuan in respective years, totaling over 11 trillion yuan. In December 2023, after completing legal approval procedures, the MOF allocated part of the new local government debt limits for 2024 to support major project construction so that work can begin on them the moment government funds are received , leveraging local government bonds to drive economic growth.

This is all for my report. Thank you.