Promoting the Reform of Local Government Financing Platforms
2016-11-22
In 2015, local governments in China began the drive to swap their debts with bonds that they issue, thereby lowering the debt risk of local government financing platforms and bringing about great changes to the debt and financing mechanisms of local governments.
After visiting and studying a number of local financing platforms, Wang Yang, a researcher with the State Councils Development Research Center, proposed that further impetus be given to the reform of local financing platforms by strengthening comprehensive audit and debt classification management of these platforms. He called for standardization of the financing activities of platform companies based on market-oriented reform and market-oriented pricing. The market-oriented and non-governmental nature of such financing needs to be specified so as to eliminate implicit government credit.