According to official data, by the end of 20 16, the debt balance of central and local governments in China was 27.33 trillion yuan, with a debt ratio of 36.7%, and the debt risk was generally controllable. However, some places have the problem of illegal debt guarantee to varying degrees, and the solvency of some areas has weakened. What impact will the Ministry of Finance have on local governments, financial institutions and social capital?
Make a negative list of services purchased by the government
In the Notice of the Ministry of Finance on Resolutely Stopping Local Illegal Financing in the Name of Government Purchasing Services, the Ministry of Finance clearly pointed out that the content of government purchasing services should focus on basic public services with budgetary arrangements, and listed a negative list:
-Raw materials, fuels, equipment, products and other goods, as well as new construction, reconstruction and expansion of buildings and structures and related decoration, demolition and repair works, shall not be regarded as services purchased by the government.
-It is strictly forbidden to use infrastructure construction, pre-development of reserved land, irrigation and water conservancy projects in railways, highways, airports, communications, water, electricity, gas, education, science and technology, health care, culture and sports as government procurement services.
-It is forbidden to package construction projects and services into services purchased by the government.
-It is strictly forbidden to include financing provided by financial institutions, financial leasing companies and other non-financial institutions in the scope of government procurement services.
Qiao Baoyun, dean of the China Institute of Finance and Policy of the Central University of Finance and Economics, told reporters that "resolutely stop" appeared in the title of the Notice. In fact, in some places, there are many kinds of government financing, which is hard to prevent. It is urgent to curb and prevent the misuse and abuse of government-purchased services. "At this time, it is very timely and necessary to make a negative list of government purchases of services."
The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Finance also admitted that some places borrowed money in disguised form in the name of government purchasing services, and there were problems such as expanding the scope of government purchasing services in violation of laws and regulations and extending the period of purchasing services beyond management authority, which "aggravated financial risks".
situation
It is understood that in June 5438+ 10 this year, the Ministry of Finance sent a letter to the government of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, pointing out that the Transportation Department of the Autonomous Region and the District High-grade Highway Construction and Development Co., Ltd. signed the Purchasing Service Agreement, stipulating that during and after the construction period 1 to 17 or 18, the project construction funds will be paid by purchasing service funds, so as to
In Jiangsu Province, after verification, the Jintan District Government of Changzhou (Party A) signed an agency contract for purchasing services with Jintan Urban Construction and Development Corporation (Party B) on 20 15, and the latter built the New Oriental Garden construction project on its behalf. Subsequently, both parties signed a tripartite creditor's rights confirmation agreement with Jintan Construction Industry Group Co., Ltd. (Party C), making it clear that Party B has transferred all the basic creditor's rights to Party C free of charge. 2065438+March 2006, Party C raised 500 million yuan from Founder East Asia Trust Co., Ltd. with the accounts receivable of Xincheng Dongyuan construction project as the repayment source, and requested to issue a financial commitment letter. At the end of the month, the Finance Bureau of Jintan District issued the relevant commitment letter, clearly including the project financing funds into the debt management scope of the whole region. This is a typical disguised lending behavior under the guise of government purchasing services.
Open the front door and block the back door, and take a multi-pronged approach to prevent risks
In fact, in recent years, from debt limit management, budget management, risk assessment and early warning, to emergency handling of risk events, classified handling of debt default, and improvement of the supervision system, the China Municipal Government has been committed to building a "full chain" of local debt risk management. While "blocking the back door" to divest the government financing function of financing platform companies and resolutely stop local governments from borrowing in disguise, China is also "opening the front door" at the right time to build a standardized local government debt financing mechanism.
On June 1 day, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Land and Resources jointly issued the Measures for the Administration of Special Bonds for Land Reserve of Local Governments (for Trial Implementation), which clearly stated that provincial governments were allowed to issue special bonds for land reserve to ensure the reasonable financing demand of land reserve projects in a legal and standardized way. This is the first time that China has issued special bonds classified according to the income items of local government funds, which is regarded as the China version of "municipal special bonds", marking an important step in the management of local government special bonds.
Analysts believe that the harshly worded opinions issued by the Ministry of Finance on the chaos of government purchasing services are a continuation of a series of previous policies to unblock traffic, highlighting the problem orientation and showing the determination and resilience to promote the implementation of established policies.
Zhao Quanhou, director of the Financial Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Fiscal Science, said that one of the core contents of the Notice is reflected in budget management, insisting on purchasing services with a budget first. "This means that the government's purchase of services is limited to fiscal expenditure, and it cannot break through the existing government budget revenue scale, nor can it seek to increase financing income."
The opinion also prohibits illegal financing by using or fictional government purchase service contracts. Financial institutions participating in the audit of government procurement services financing must meet the relevant requirements of the government budget management system. Local governments and their departments shall not use or fabricate government purchase service contracts to borrow money in disguised form for construction projects, nor shall they use government purchase services to raise funds from financial institutions, nor shall they fabricate or exceed their authority to sign accounts payable (receivable) contracts in any way to help financing platform companies and other enterprises raise funds.
Initially achieve full coverage of local government illegal financing prevention.
The newly issued opinions also require all localities to do a good job in publicizing the information of government-purchased services, so that the government-purchased services and their budget arrangements are true and compliant, and the information is open and transparent, ensuring traceability and safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of contractors and financial institutions.
The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Finance said that with the promulgation of a series of documents, China has initially achieved full coverage of the main illegal financing methods of local governments and their departments.