An official from the Ministry of Finance said yesterday the issuance of 1.55 trillion yuan (US$204.1 billion) in special treasury bonds won't seriously impact the nation's financial market, Xinhua reported on Thursday.

The official said the issuance of the special bonds has no direct impact on the money supply whether it will be issued whole or by tranches.

Issuing the special bonds is to tackle excessive liquidity and improve returns on forex investments. The move is a kind of integrative macro control policy, in stead of a tightening measure targeting the stock market only, and won't directly impact capital in the stock market, the official said.

The official also said the bonds would not be issued directly to the People's Bank of China, the central bank.

But Li Yang, a researcher of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the offer will lead to an increase in the amount of bonds held by the central bank via asset swapping.

The central bank can use the special bonds to gradually absorb liquidity through open market operations, according to the official.

According to the ministry, foreign exchanges bought by the special bonds will not be calculated in China's forex reserves.

(China Daily July 5, 2007)