Ministry of Finance: Improve the "Negative List" for the use of special bonds and appropriately adjust the scope of the "self-review and self-issuance" pilot program for special bond projects

The Xinhua News Agency is authorized to release the “Report on the Implementation of the Central and Local Budgets in 2025 and the Draft Central and Local Budgets for 2026.” The report points out that efforts should be made to expand effective investment. It is necessary to coordinate and make good use of funds such as ultra-long-term special government bonds, special bond issues, and central government budgetary investment, focusing on key areas including new quality productive forces, new-type urbanization, and the all-round development of people, in order to improve the quality and returns of investment.

It allocates 800 billion yuan in ultra-long-term special government bond funds for the “Two Major” construction, adhering to a top-down approach while emphasizing the integration of both soft and hard measures; it will appropriately increase the central investment subsidy standards by category, so as to better reflect the national strategic intent. It will improve the “negative list” for the areas to which special bonds may be directed, appropriately adjust the scope of the pilot program for the “self-review and self-issuance” of special bond projects, and in the allocation and use process place greater emphasis on provincial-level coordination. It will set aside and increase the amount of special bonds used for project construction, and continue to tilt support toward local areas where projects are well-prepared and where funds are used effectively.

The central government budgetary investment is set at 755 billion yuan, an increase of 20 billion yuan. It will strengthen full-process oversight of government investment funds covering allocation, issuance, and use, help ensure that project reserves and preliminary preparations are carried out well, improve the maturity and executability of projects, and avoid idle funds being held up unused or being diverted or misappropriated.