‘Green’ bonds for 1st time
Guangdong issued offshore provincial government bonds worth two billion yuan in Macau yesterday, according to a statement by the Macau Monetary Authority (AMCM).
The statement pointed out that yesterday’s issuance was the third time that the Guangdong Provincial People’s Government has issued offshore bonds in Macau, after the first and second ones in October 2021 and October 2022.
According to the statement, the offshore renminbi-denominated provincial government bonds issued in Macau yesterday comprised two tranches, namely two-year-maturity bonds with an issuance size of one billion yuan and an interest rate of 2.4 percent, and three-year-maturity “green” bonds with an issuance size of one billion yuan and an interest rate of 2.55 percent.
“Renminbi” (“people’s currency”) is the official name of the nation’s legal tender, informally known as “yuan”.
As in the last two years, the offshore provincial government bonds issued in Macau this year are also only available to institutional investors.
The statement also noted that it is the first time that the Guangdong government has issued green bonds in Macau.
In 2021, the Guangdong government issued offshore provincial government bonds worth 2.2 billion yuan in Macau with a three-year maturity and an interest rate of 2.68 percent, while last year bonds worth two billion yuan with a three-year maturity and an interest rate of 2.65 percent were issued here.
Yesterday’s AMCM statement also said that the bonds issued this time were well-received by investors in the market, with the subscription ratio reaching 2.3 times, i.e., the amount of purchase requests in relation to the amount of bonds available.
