On October 23, the Ministry of Finance held a press conference to brief on fiscal revenue and expenditure for the first three quarters.
Zhao Zeyong, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Finance's Debt Management Department, said at the meeting that, in order to implement the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council and in light of current fiscal and economic conditions, with the approval of the State Council, 550 billion yuan of local government debt carryover quota has recently been arranged for use, to strengthen the general public budget guarantee capacity of counties and districts and to support localities in expanding effective investment.
This arrangement of using carryover quota has three characteristics:
First, greater intensity. The scale of local government debt carryover quota arranged for use this year is 550 billion yuan, an increase of 50 billion yuan over last year and 150 billion yuan over the year before last, further intensifying the effort and fully reflecting the policy orientation of a more proactive and precisely targeted proactive fiscal policy.
Second, clear direction. Of the 550 billion yuan in local government debt carryover quota, 300 billion yuan of general debt carryover quota is arranged for use, all allocated to counties and districts, with provinces and cities not allowed to intercept it, specifically to improve the general public budget guarantee capacity of counties and districts; 250 billion yuan of special debt carryover quota is arranged for use, allocated to regions with actual project funding needs in the fourth quarter of this year, with a tilt toward major economic provinces, to support the priority funding needs of projects under construction, while projects that truly need to be newly built should focus on key areas such as the construction of the "six networks," effectively leveraging the driving role of government investment.
Third, stricter requirements. On the one hand, localities are required to better align project reserves with bond issuance, accelerate the pace of issuance, and smooth the disbursement chain. The carryover quota used for project construction should be fully issued and used before the end of this year, forming physical workload as soon as possible, and promoting early implementation and early results of the policy. On the other hand, the Ministry of Finance will strengthen guidance and supervision over the issuance and use of carryover quota, strictly prohibit violations such as misappropriation, diversion, and false reporting of expenditure progress, and ensure efficient and standardized use of funds.
Zhao Zeyong said that, judging from the implementation of the policy, after the Ministry of Finance issued the carryover quota, localities acted quickly, closely followed policy requirements, promptly decomposed and issued the quota, and accelerated various preliminary work. Recently, Guangdong and Sichuan separately disclosed that they plan to issue 36.1 billion yuan and 10 billion yuan of special bonds next week using carryover quota, for key area project construction. Relevant provinces will continue to issue bonds subsequently, and the policy effects will gradually emerge.
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