The total amount of urban investment bonds issued in the first four months of 2024 is about 2 trillion yuan, which is slightly lower than that of the previous four months, and the net financing is about-40 billion yuan.
Under the background of preventing the risk of local government debt, the situation of urban investment bonds publicly issued by the local government financing platform company, as the main body of hidden debt, is used by market participants as an important window to observe the prevention and resolution of hidden debt risk.
According to the data of Wind and other institutions, the total amount of urban investment bonds issued in the first four months of 2024 is about 2 trillion yuan, which is slightly lower than that in the previous four months, with net financing of about-40 billion yuan.
Sun Binbin, deputy director of Tianfeng Securities Research Institute, believes that the issuance of urban investment bonds decreased slightly compared with the same period last year, but due to an increase in maturity, net financing shrank significantly compared with the same period last year. Behind this, the regulatory body audit is stricter and the audit time is longer, and the proportion of examination and approval is significantly reduced, causing certain pressure on the supply of urban investment bonds. The proportion of "approved", "effective registration" and "completion of registration" approved by exchanges and dealers' associations has declined significantly.
In March, the State Council held a video conference on preventing and defusing local debt risks. The meeting proposed to make greater efforts to resolve the debt risks of financing platforms, strengthen supporting policy support, speed up the reduction of the number of financing platforms and the scale of debt, and promote the reform and transformation of financing platforms by classification.
Sun Binbin said that due to the continuing impact of regulation on urban investment and financing, urban investment bond issuance and net financing have continued to shrink since 2024, and the proportion of urban investment bond approval has significantly decreased, but recently, some district and county-level subjects have added new shares at the first time, and the financing side seems to have loosened. On the one hand, the proportion of urban investment debt borrowing and repaying the old continues to rise, and at present, the channel for refinancing is still relatively smooth; on the other hand, some of the new main bodies of urban investment in 2024 have weakened the attributes of the traditional urban investment business, and the industrialization transformation has achieved new financing. Urban investment is also actively expanding new channels.
Yuan Haixia, executive director of the China Integrity International Research Institute, believes that under the background that the policy requires "strict control of new debt", further implementation of financing list management, and gradual expansion of key areas of chemical debt, the subsequent examination and approval of the issuance of urban investment bonds is still relatively strict, and the net financing scale of urban investment bonds is expected to decline from April to December compared with the same period last year, or 0.AsiaqualifiersworldcupAbout .4 trillion yuan.
At the same time of the decline in the scale of urban investment debt, more and more urban investment companies declare themselves as "market-oriented operators" when issuing bonds, which is intended to break the expectations of the government and promote the market-oriented transformation of financing platform companies. However, the transformation of urban investment is still an old problem, especially for some urban investment companies with heavy debt burden, difficult cash flow and great operational pressure.
When Luo Zhiheng, chief economist of Yue Kai Securities, recently investigated the views of eight urban investors on the transformation, he found that most of the urban investors in the district and county and the southwest and northwest regions thought that the transformation was a false proposition, that as long as there was a local government, there are financing needs and financing platforms; the resources of districts and counties are limited, so it is difficult to achieve real transformation. Provincial urban investment and urban investment in East and South China mostly think that they can be transformed, but the liquidity risk should be solved first, and then classified disposal. finally, on this basis, the government needs to inject assets, improve the corporate governance mechanism, improve the risk management ability and establish a market-oriented employment mechanism to promote the transformation.
In his view, the essence of urban investment transformation is to reshape the relationship between local government and urban investment platform, and to straighten out the relationship between government and market; the core of urban investment transformation is to peel off the government financing function of urban investment companies and break the market expectation that urban investment companies will be provided with implicit guarantee and backing by local governments, but not to seek complete decoupling from local governments.
"the transformation of urban investment should be established in a stable business environment, and only by resolving short-term debt risks and solving short-term liquidity problems can we lay the foundation for long-term transformation, otherwise we will always fall into an emergency state of endless repayment of principal and interest and explosion-proof mines." Luo Zhiheng said that the transformation of urban investment is a long-term project, which requires systematic planning, in which the core is to classify and classify urban investment, and to promote business transformation. For example, the pure financing platform that undertakes public welfare project financing and has no substantive business activities will eventually be cancelled gradually. For the urban investment companies that already have the ability of market-oriented and sustainable operation, after comprehensively stripping off the government financing functions and solving the historical burden, they will gradually transform into ordinary operating state-owned enterprises. For the urban investment between the two mentioned above, after thoroughly stripping off the government financing function and solving the historical burden, it should be classified and disposed according to the situation and external conditions of the urban investment company.
At present, there are five major types of business that can be expanded in the transformation of urban investment companies.AsiaqualifiersworldcupTransformation of enterprises in construction engineering, real estate development, public utilities, industrial investment and capital operation. At the same time, there are great risks in the transformation of urban investment companies; successful transformation requires not only their own awareness of transformation, but also higher requirements for external conditions such as regional resource endowment and local government support.