China's top parliament body has approved a 1 trillion yuan (US$137 billion) sovereign bond issue and passed a bill to allow local governments to frontload part of their 2024 bond quotas, state media said on Tuesday (Oct 24), in a move to support the economy. Funds raised from the new sovereign bonds will support the rebuilding of disaster-hit areas in the country and improve urban drainage prevention infrastructure to boost China's ability to withstand natural disasters, state news agency Xinhua said. That will widen the country's 2023 budget deficit to around 3.8 per cent of gross domestic product from a previously ... (full story)