The Macau Monetary Authority (AMCM) announced in a statement yesterday that the China Development Bank Hong Kong Branch issued policy-bank bonds worth 5.5 billion yuan in Macau on Tuesday, marking the first issuance of policy-bank bonds in Macau.
The China Development Bank is one of the nation’s three major policy banks, alongside the Agricultural Development Bank of China and the Export-Import Bank of China.
According to its website, the China Development Bank (CDB), established in 1994, is a state-funded and state-owned development finance institution. As an independent legal entity directly overseen by the State Council, it is dedicated to supporting the nation’s economic development in key industries and under-developed sectors. With a mission to support national development and deliver a better life for the people, CDB aligns its business focus with the nation’s major medium- and long-term economic development strategies.
CDB, according to its website, has 37 primary and four secondary branches in the Chinese mainland, one branch in Hong Kong, and 11 representative offices in foreign cities comprising Astana, Budapest, Cairo, Caracas, Jakarta, London, Minsk, Moscow, Rio de Janeiro, Sydney and Vientiane.
According to DeepSeek, a policy bank is a state-owned financial institution established primarily to implement national economic and development strategies rather than to pursue profit. Founded by government mandate, it provides long-term financing for projects in strategically vital sectors, such as infrastructure, agriculture, foreign trade, and social welfare, that are often underserved by commercial banks. Unlike commercial lenders, a policy bank operates with explicit government backing, which may include sovereign credit guarantees, direct capital injections, and concessional funding. Its activities are closely aligned with the government’s industrial and social policies, often focusing on promoting structural adjustment, regional development, and international cooperation. Globally, similar institutions exist under various other labels, though the term “policy bank” is most characteristically associated with China’s model of state-directed finance.
Yesterday’s AMCM statement underlined that the China Development Bank Hong Kong Branch’s issuance of its policy-bank bonds in Macau also marks another significant milestone for issuers in Macau’s bond market following the central government’s issuances of sovereign bonds, Guangdong Province’s issuances of government bonds, and Shenzhen City’s issuance of government bonds in Macau.
The Ministry of Finance has issued sovereign bonds in Macau five times, while the Guangdong Provincial People’s Government has issued offshore provincial government bonds in Macau five times as well. Last year, Shenzhen City issued offshore municipal government bonds in Macau for the first time.
Yesterday’s AMCM statement also said that the bonds issued by the China Development Bank Hong Kong Branch in Macau on Tuesday are dedicated to financing projects concerning the nation’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and those in Portuguese-speaking countries.
The statement said that the policy bank’s issuance of the bonds fully demonstrates its support for Macau to better play its role as a platform for financial services between China and Portuguese-speaking countries and to make greater contributions to the nation’s BRI.
According to the statement, the renminbi-denominated policy-bank bonds issued in Macau on Tuesday, which were only available to professional investors, comprise three-year-maturity bonds worth 3.5 billion yuan with an interest rate of 1.75 percent and five-year-maturity bonds worth two billion yuan with an interest rate of 1.85 percent.
“Renminbi” (“people’s currency”) is the official name of the nation’s legal tender, informally known as “yuan”.
Yesterday’s AMCM statement also said that the bonds’ issuance on Tuesday has also broadened the variety of bonds in Macau’s offshore yuan market, exemplified the synergistic benefits arising from the coordinated development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), injected new impetus into the development of Macau’s bond market, advanced the internationalisation of yuan, and enabled Macau to better integrate into and serve the nation’s overall development.
This poster provided by the Macau Monetary Authority (AMCM) yesterday explains the China Development Bank’s (CDB) issuance of its policy-bank bonds in Macau.
