China's Local Bond Issuance Reaches 7.79 Trillion Yuan Through August

China's local government bond issuance totaled 77,859.14 billion yuan by August 31, up about 1.3% from 76,838 billion yuan a year earlier, according to Jiemian News. Issuance accelerated in the second half of the year, with 58,706.3422 billion yuan issued in the first half, 7,382.8629 billion yuan in July and 11,769.9349 billion yuan in August. China's National Bureau of Statistics said fixed-asset investment fell 6.7% year on year in January-July, with infrastructure investment down 2.4%. Jiemian News reported that China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has stepped up efforts to stabilize investment, holding a national investment work meeting on August 28 and earlier meetings on August 14 and five days later to push policy-based financial tools, support private investment and coordinate major projects under the “Six Networks” plan. Officials and analysts cited faster bond issuance, policy financing and major project construction as factors that could improve investment later in the year.