MOF to float 23.8 bln yuan in local gov't bonds

The Ministry of Finance (MOF) said Friday that it will issue 23.8 billion yuan (3.88 billion U.S. dollars) in five-year bonds on behalf of local governments at a yield of 3.87 percent.

According to the plan, the sixth of its kind this year, 5.6 billion yuan will go to Heilongjiang Province, 700 million yuan to Xiamen City, 7.7 billion yuan to Hunan Province, 4.8 billion yuan to Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, 700 million to Tibet Autonomous Region and 4.3 billion yuan to Qinghai Province.

The bonds will become tradable on Aug. 9.

With the approval of the State Council, China's Cabinet, the MOF is scheduled to sell local government bonds worth a combined total of 350 billion yuan in 2013, the most since 2009, in order to meet growing expenditure demands.