BEIJING: The scale of China’s bond market grew steadily in 2023, with the issuance a total of 71 trillion yuan (about 10 trillion U.S. dollars) of bonds, a year-on-year increase of 14.8 percent, according to the data released by the People’s Bank of China on Monday.

Among them, China’s interbank bond market issued bonds of 61.4 trillion yuan and the exchange market issued bonds of 9.6 trillion yuan.

As of the conclusion of 2023, foreign institutions held a custody balance of 3.72 trillion yuan in China’s bond market, representing 2.4 percent of the market’s aggregate value. Within this figure, the inter-bank bond market accounted for a significant portion, with overseas institutions maintaining a custody balance of 3.67 trillion yuan, as reported by China Central Television.

By the end of 2023, the institutional holders of debt financing instruments of non-financial enterprises in China amounted to 2,162.

By value of holdings, the top 50 investors composed mainly of public funds, state-owned large commerc
ial banks, and joint-stock commercial banks possessed 50.6 percent of the total outstanding debt financing instruments of non-financial enterprises by the end of 2023. The top 200 investors held 82.1 percent of the total debt.

Last year, the transactions in the inter-bank money market surpassed 1,817 trillion yuan, up 19.0 percent year on year. In 2023, the cash transactions in the inter-bank bond market reached 307.3 trillion yuan, with an average daily turnover of 1.2 trillion yuan.

In the same year, the transactions in the inter-bank RMB derivatives market totaled 31.9 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 49.8 percent. Among them, treasury bond futures totaled 52.4 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.8 percent.

Source: Emirates News Agency