China's Ministry of Finance (MOF) said on Friday it would issue 91-day treasury bonds with a face value of 15 billion yuan (US$2.2 billion) from May 11 to 13.

The issue price, set by competitive bidding, was 99.793 yuan. The annual yield was 0.85 percent, the ministry said. Interest would be calculated from May 11 and paid in a lump sum at maturity.

The bonds could begin trading on May 15.

The MOF also said it would issue 15.4 billion yuan of three-year local government bonds from May 11 to 13 on behalf of three provinces: 3 billion yuan for Heilongjiang Province, 8.4 billion yuan for Yunnan Province and 4 billion yuan for Zhejiang Province.

Each bond will have a fixed annual coupon rate of 1.77 percent.

The MOF would issue a total of 28.5 billion yuan of local government bonds in the first half of May on behalf of six local governments, which would also include Dalian City, Sichuan Province and Hubei Province.

China planned to float a total of 200 billion yuan of local government bonds this year.

(Xinhua News Agency May 9, 2009)