The issuance of new special bonds this year has exceeded 1 trillion yuan, representing a year-over-year increase of over 40%.

Reporter Han Yu

On March 24, Zhejiang issued a batch of local government bonds, including special bonds totaling 24.787 billion yuan. These bonds have maturities of 5, 15, 20, and 30 years, with funds allocated to projects such as shantytown redevelopment and sewage treatment.

This is a snapshot of the accelerated issuance of new special bonds across regions this year. Wind data shows that by March 24, approximately 1.0712 trillion yuan of new special bonds had been issued nationwide, exceeding 1 trillion yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 41% (compared to about 758.3 billion yuan in the same period last year). In fact, although the first quarter of this year has not yet ended, the issuance scale of 1.0712 trillion yuan has already surpassed the total issuance of new special bonds in the first quarter of 2025 (about 960.2 billion yuan).

“Compared to the same period last year, the issuance of new special bonds has accelerated significantly this year, reflecting proactive fiscal policy implementation. This not only quickly fills funding gaps for major projects and accelerates physical work but also sends a positive signal to stabilize market expectations, aligning with the project construction pace in the first quarter,” said Song Xiangqing, Vice President of the China Business Economics Society, in an interview with Securities Daily.

Zhu Hualei, senior investment advisor at Shaanxi Jufeng Investment Information Co., Ltd., also told reporters that the progress of new special bond issuance this year is notably faster than last year, which directly reflects the proactive fiscal policy and efficiency improvements in 2026. Moderate scale, targeted allocation, and standardized management of new special bonds provide strong support for a good start to the “14th Five-Year Plan.”

Looking back at 2025, the issuance of new special bonds effectively played a role in government investment-driven and guiding growth. In 2025, China’s new local government special debt quota was 4.4 trillion yuan, an increase of 500 billion yuan from 2024. The funds mainly supported transportation infrastructure, affordable housing projects, urban renewal, social services, agriculture, forestry, water conservancy, ecological protection, and strategic emerging industries infrastructure, supporting over 48,000 projects, with project capital exceeding 300 billion yuan, helping to expand effective investment.

This year’s Government Work Report explicitly proposed to allocate 4.4 trillion yuan in local government special bonds, improve the management of negative lists for special projects, and pilot self-review and approval. The focus is on supporting major project construction, replacing implicit debt, and clearing government arrears.

Song Xiangqing stated that the rapid implementation of new special bonds will directly boost infrastructure investment growth, focusing on transportation, municipal, new infrastructure, and livelihood projects. It will leverage social capital to create multiplier effects, revive industries such as building materials and construction machinery, and support regional economic recovery. For local economies, this not only ensures the implementation of major projects and addresses infrastructure gaps but also replaces implicit debt and clears government arrears, improving the business environment and corporate cash flow. This will form a virtuous cycle of increased investment, industrial efficiency, and employment expansion, consolidating the momentum for regional economic recovery.

Zhu Hualei believes that the “accelerated run” of new special bonds in the first quarter of 2026 is not just about increased investment but also a combination of measures to stabilize growth, prevent risks, and adjust the economic structure. In the short term, it supports economic growth through infrastructure investment, and in the medium to long term, it fosters new industries, injecting strong and sustainable momentum into high-quality regional development.

(Edited by: Wen Jing)

Keywords: Special Bonds