Local govt bonds viewed as way to encourage infrastructure funding

Issuing more local government bonds next year could be a way to support infrastructure construction funding and offset a likely slowdown in government income, experts said.

At the same time, regulation of local governments' debt expansion could remain unchanged when they face repaying matured loans next year.

Total local government bond issuance may reach 3.9 to 4.4 trillion yuan ($566.5 billion) next year. It will be the key channel to raise fund, and part of this will be used to repay the 1.32 trillion yuan in matured debt, according to a recent research by China Securities.