The Ministry of Finance said Wednesday it would issue 33 billion yuan (US$4 billion) in seven-year treasury bonds next week to fund infrastructure projects and plug the budget deficit.

The bonds would be sold to domestic institutional and individual investors from May 25 to 30 and would be traded on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges and interbank market as well as over bank counters from June 3, it said.

The coupon on the bonds, payable each year, would be decided by a May 30 public tender in which underwriters, mainly banks and brokerages, would bid, the ministry said in a statement published on the official Web site for bond issues (www.chinabond.com.cn).

The government plans to issue 692.3 billion yuan in T-bonds this year, almost unchanged from last year, as it cuts the ratio of its budget deficit to gross domestic product to 2 percent from nearly 2.5 percent in 2004.

China has issued a combined 197.31 billion yuan in treasury bonds so far this year after issuing a record 692.4 billion yuan last year, up from 628.3 billion yuan in 2003.

Its T-bond issues have notched up records for several years as the government has strived to finance infrastructure projects, aid millions of laid-off workers, and prepare for the 2008 Olympics.

(China Daily May 19, 2005)