BEIJING -- Faced with falling revenues, Chinese local governments are issuing debt to finance infrastructure projects at the slowest pace in three years despite encouragement from Beijing.
China's national government in March set a ceiling of 3.9 trillion yuan ($554 billion) for local governments to issue special-purpose bonds this year, up 3% from 2023 and the largest-ever annual limit. Yet issuance from January to August came to just 66% of the quota, falling nearly 20% short of the value during the same period last year.
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