China reports solid rise in bond issuance

BEIJING - The value of bonds issued in China last year totaled 43.1 trillion yuan ($6.4 trillion), up 7.5 percent year-on-year, according to data from the country's central bank.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank, owed the rise to the notable increases in issuances of non-financial enterprise debt financing instruments and interbank negotiable certificates of deposits.

By the end of 2018, China's outstanding bonds amounted to 86 trillion yuan, surging 15.1 percent year-on-year.

Bond issuance interest rates saw notable declines last year, with that of 10-year treasury bonds issued in December dropping 57 basis points from the same period in the previous year to 3.25 percent.

Meanwhile, the interest rate of 7-year financial bonds issued by the China Development Bank stood at 3.6 percent last year, down 134 basis points year-on-year.

The central bank also said that treasury bonds with maturities of one, three, five, seven and 10 years all saw lower rates of return last year.