Xinjiang introduces new anti-debt measures

Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region recently announced six measures to prevent local government debt risks.

On March 28, a meeting held by Xinjiang Development and Reform Commission (XJDRC) stressed a need to wipe out new government debt at the source by strengthening management of capital construction projects, the commission said in a statement.

It noted that local development and reform commissions in the region are not allowed to issue project quotas that may lead to either debt risks or hidden debt risks, nor should they accept projects without capital sources.

In addition, the XJDRC and Xinjiang finance departments must strictly check capital construction projects, in particular the source of the capital.

Local development and reform commissions were also asked to clean up projects invested in local governments since 2017, and figure out local governments’ hidden debt.

For projects on which construction has both started and already led to local government debt or hidden debt, the debt has to be paid back before a prescribed time limit, or construction must stop, according to the statement.

Currently, many public-private partnership (PPP) projects in Xinjiang, most of which are funded by local governments, have been suspended, domestic business news site eeo.com.cn reported Tuesday.

The Xinjiang department of finance is screening PPP projects and will decide whether to abandon the projects in line with the progress of the projects.