China has authorised its policy banks to issue new bonds in order to plough money into infrastructure spending, state media has reported, as planners fret over slumping economic indicators.
A month-long stock market rout plus weak manufacturing performance has spooked Beijing. The aggressive move to push money into the real economy comes after the final reading of the Caixin/Markit purchasing managers’ index, published earlier this week, showed growth in China’s manufacturing sector slowed more than previously thought.
A first batch of Rmb300bn ($48bn) out of a planned Rmb1tn will be issued soon by policy banks that were recapitalised this spring, the Economic Information Daily, a newspaper run by the official Xinhua news agency, said.