A total of 5 billion yuan (US$731.5 million) of the local government bonds of the Henan Province are scheduled for sale on April 7, said the Chinese Ministry of Finance (MOF) on Friday.

The batch of bonds, which is the third of its kinds in China, will be issued by the MOF on behalf of the Henan provincial government and take the form of book-entry national treasury bonds.

The ministry said the three-year bonds will be sold to investors between April 7 and April 9, and will become tradable as of April 13 on the inter-bank market and securities exchanges.

The bonds have a fixed coupon of 1.63 percent, higher than that of the previous two batches of bonds, with interest to be paid annually.

China planned to float 200 billion yuan of local government bonds this year, with the first batch of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region government and the second of Anhui Province issued on March 30 and April 1, respectively.

The ministry said most of the 200-billion-yuan local government bonds would be issued during the second and third quarters this year.

According to the ministry, Sichuan Province will be the next to have its local bonds issued, with the public bidding starting on April 7.

(Xinhua News Agency April 4, 2009)