The central government will issue sovereign bonds worth six billion yuan (6.75 billion patacas) in Macau next Wednesday, the Ministry of Finance in Beijing and the local government announced yesterday.
The Macau Government Information Bureau (GCS) issued a two-part statement on the matter.
The ministry issued sovereign bonds worth five billion yuan in Macau last year.
Next Wednesday’s scheduled issuance will be the fifth issuance of sovereign bonds by the central government in Macau, after the first issuance in July 2019, the second in September 2022, the third in September 2023, and the fourth in October last year.
The Ministry of Finance issued sovereign bonds worth two billion yuan in Macau in 2019, while bonds worth three billion yuan were issued here in 2022.
The value of sovereign bonds issued in Macau in 2023 increased to five billion yuan, while the value of bonds issued last year remained unchanged at five billion yuan.
Yesterday’s GCS statement said that the local government welcomes the central government’s decision to issue renminbi-denominated sovereign bonds in Macau “once again”, marking the fourth consecutive year of the central government’s issuance of sovereign bonds in Macau.
“Renminbi” (“people’s currency”) is the official name of the nation’s legal tender, informally known as “yuan”.
The statement underlined that the “continuous” issuance of sovereign bonds in Macau highlights the central government’s support for the development of Macau’s bond market and the city’s appropriate economic diversification.
The statement said that the central government’s continuous issuance of sovereign bonds in Macau will provide investors with secure and stable investment options, improve the city’s bond market infrastructure, diversify the composition of investors, and enable the city’s bond market to be more strongly connected with the international bond market.
The statement also said that the continuous issuance of sovereign bonds in Macau will attract more international investors to Macau’s bond market, promote the development of Macau’s offshore yuan market, and further deepen financial cooperation between the mainland and Macau.
The same as the three previous years, the sovereign bonds this time will also only be offered to professional investors, according to the statement.
The two-billion-yuan sovereign bonds issued in Macau in 2019 comprised 1.7 billion yuan offered to institutional investors and retail bonds worth 300 million yuan offered to members of Macau’s general public.
This file photo taken in 2020 shows the headquarters of the Ministry of Finance in Beijing. – Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
