MNI China Press Digest May 30: Idle Land, Bonds, Consumption

Highlights from Chinese press reports on Friday:

• City level officials are accelerating idle land purchases using local government special bonds, Economic Information Daily reported. A total of 171 city governments have announced acquisition plans valued at CNY390 billion as of May 27, the China Real Estate Information Corporation said, noting a prevalence of third- and fourth-tier cities. However, local special bond actual issuance for such purposes remained below the announced plans, with only CNY123 billion issued as of May 25, the newspaper said, citing Wang Qing, analyst with Golden Credit Rating.
• Local governments issued a total of CNY1.5 trillion in new bonds during the first four months, including CNY302 billion in general bonds and CNY1.19 trillion in special-purpose bonds, data from the Ministry of Finance showed. Feng Lin, executive director at the Research and Development Department at Oriental Jincheng, noted total local government bond issuance increased by CNY1.6 trillion y/y, driven mainly by CNY1.6 trillion in refinancing special-purpose bonds used to replace hidden debt. The refinancing has released momentum for infrastructure investment which rose 5.8% y/y in the first four months, 1.4 percentage points faster than the full-year growth rate in 2024.
• Local officials are driving domestic demand using innovative consumption subsidies including childcare and marriage vouchers, Shanghai Securities News reported. Guangdong province will issue childcare vouchers up to CNY2,000 per child starting June. Fujian is promoting vouchers covering wedding and childcare costs, and plans to issue birth subsidies to eligible families, the newspaper said.