RIYADH: China will sell sovereign bonds totalling $340 billion in the final months of this year as the Asian giant taps the remaining annual quota and refinances maturing special bonds.

The government has issued 1.09 trillion yuan ($151 billion) of general bonds so far this year ⁠— less than 40 percent of the budgeted central deficit of 2.75 trillion yuan for 2022, Bloomberg reported based on its calculations.

According to the report, the government is expected to issue a total of 2.45 trillion yuan in sovereign bonds between October and December, which comprises 1.66 trillion yuan of new bonds and 786 billion yuan to refinance maturing special debts.

Meanwhile, Reuters, citing people familiar with the matter, said that the treasury bond issuance plan was made during a meeting of the finance ministry on Wednesday.

According to the Reuters report, the ministry also urged local governments to complete issuing the roughly 500 billion yuan in special bonds by the end of October under carryover quotas from previous years, the sources said.

The issuance of a total of 3.45 trillion yuan in local government special bonds for infrastructure has been completed by the end of June.

Amid weak consumption recovery and softening export growth, authorities are doubling down on an infrastructure push, dusting off an old playbook by issuing debt to fund big public works projects to revive the economy.

China’s economy generally recovered and stabilized in the third quarter and the country will push ahead with its economic program in the fourth, state media quoted Li Keqiang, premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, as saying on Wednesday.

But with few signs China will significantly ease its zero-COVID policy soon, many analysts expect the economy to grow by just 3 percent this year, which would be the slowest since 1976, excluding the 2.2 percent expansion during the initial COVID hit in 2020.

(With input from Reuters)