China says foreign institutions hold 2.5% of interbank bonds

In this unpublished photo, a Chinese clerk counts renminbi yuan banknotes in Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province. The central bank said that overseas institutions held a total of 3.55 trillion yuan $507.14 billion or 2.5 percent of the outstanding bonds in China's bond market at the end of August.

Their holdings in the interbank bond market amounted to 3.48 trillion yuan.

In terms of bond type, overseas institutions held 2.3 trillion yuan, or 66.9 percent, of treasury bonds and 800 billion yuan, or 23.4 percent, of policy financial bonds.

In May of this year, China announced that it would facilitate foreign institutional investments in its bond market and coordinate the opening-up of the interbank and exchange bond markets.

According to an announcement issued by the central bank and top securities and foreign exchange regulators, the country wants to increase the diversity of investors while improving the liquidity and stability of its bond market. The declaration came into effect on June 30, 2022.