China Expands Financing Tool That Can Support Ailing Developers

(Bloomberg) — China expanded a key financing support program designed for private businesses including real estate companies, a move that promises to help developers sell more bonds and ease their liquidity woes.

The National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors (NAFMII) widened the program launched in 2018 to support about 250 billion yuan ($34.5 billion) in debt sales by private companies including developers, the regulator said Tuesday in a statement on its website. The ways to support such financing include bond guarantees, credit enhancement and bond purchases, it said, adding that the move is part of efforts to stabilize the economy and could be expanded further if needed.