A total of 35 batches of Treasury bonds amounting to about 2.35 trillion yuan (US$324.8 billion) were issued by the Chinese Ministry of Finance (MOF) in 2007, 1.46 trillion yuan more than in 2006, said the MOF Wednesday.

Statistics from the MOF showed that among the 35 batches of T-bonds, there were eight batches of special treasury bonds totaling 1.55 trillion yuan, 21 batches of book-entry treasury bonds totaling 634.7 billion yuan, five batches of certificate treasury bonds of 160 billion yuan and one batch of electronic saving bonds for about 3.4 billion yuan.

The ministry said by the end of 2007, China's aggregated domestic debt balance exceeded five trillion yuan for the first time, doubling the figure from the end of 2003.

In 2007, the country's total transaction volume of treasury bonds reached 19 trillion yuan, nearly 50 percent more than that of 2003.

Assistant Financial Minister Zhang Tong told a national treasury bonds conference held earlier this week that the scale of treasury bonds market was expanding fast in China, with more and more investment attracted into the growing market, and gave strong support to the Chinese economy.

China will maintain a prudent fiscal policy next year, according to the key Central Economic Work Conference held at the end of last year.

"As one part of the prudent fiscal policy, China would narrow its fiscal deficit and cut the volume of treasury bonds issued for long-term construction projects this year", said Chinese Financial Minister Xie Xuren at the national financial work conference last month.

The central government capital spending will focus on improving production and living conditions in rural areas, environmental protection and supporting infrastructure projects.

China's central fiscal deficit was set at 245 billion yuan for 2007, down 50 billion yuan from 2006, and treasury bond issues intended for long-term construction projects were set at 50 billion yuan in 2007, down 10 billion yuan from 2006.

"The government should enhance the scientific planning and innovation in issuing Treasury bonds and improve the synergy effects with the monetary policy in the future, " added Zhang.

China's central bank announced on January 16 it would raise the required reserve ratio for commercial banks by half a percentage point on January 25.

The ratio would be raised to 15 percent, the highest since 1984, part of the stringent monetary policy. This was to siphon excess liquidity from banks and curb the overly-fast growth of credit against the backdrop of the country's foreign exchange reserve that had reached US$1.53 trillion by the end of 2007, up 43.32 percent from a year earlier.

(Xinhua News Agency January 24, 2008)