China has allocated 188 billion yuan ($25.9 billion) from its 2025 ultra-long special treasury bond funds to support equipment upgrades across major economic sectors, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said on Wednesday.

The funds will support about 8,400 projects in industry, energy equipment, power, transportation, logistics, environmental infrastructure, education, culture and tourism, healthcare, elevators in aging residential buildings, electronics, agriculture, grain and oil processing, workplace safety and recycling, leveraging more than 1 trillion yuan in total investment.

Bian Yongzu, executive deputy editor-in-chief of Modernization of Management magazine, told the Global Times on Wednesday that in the current context of slowing economic growth and external pressures, some industries are facing falling factory-gate prices due to weak demand, which has weighed on revenues and operations and prompted many companies to cut spending on new equipment and research and development (R&D). If this continues, it will erode their competitiveness.

"Issuing ultra-long special treasury bonds to support equipment upgrades is highly significant, as it offers companies access to low-cost financing, spurring them to accelerate technological transformation and R&D investment. This will create greater market demand for emerging industries and technologies and trigger a chain reaction that drives high-end recruitment, boosts household incomes and stimulates consumption," Bian said.

"This will help consolidate the domestic circulation-led growth model, giving China's economy stronger momentum and a healthier growth cycle," Bian noted.

Since the beginning of 2025, the NDRC has worked with relevant government agencies and local authorities to implement the "two new" policy, expanding the scope of equipment-upgrade support, refining project application and review standards, and strictly screening projects to advance upgrades in key sectors, the commission said.

The NDRC will work with relevant parties to strengthen coordination, advance projects, accelerate tangible progress, and enforce closed-loop fund management to ensure central government resources are effectively used and the "two new" policy delivers tangible results, it said.

Bian said that such issuances will also advance the development of China's bond market, promote the prosperity of yuan-denominated assets, broaden investor options and improve the capital market.

According to preliminary data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on July 15, China's GDP reached 66.05 trillion yuan in the first half of 2025, up 5.3 percent year-on-year at constant prices.

The value-added output of large industrial firms rose 6.4 percent, with equipment manufacturing up 10.2 percent and high-tech manufacturing up 9.5 percent. Per capita disposable income stood at 21,840 yuan, a nominal increase of 5.3 percent, the NBS said.

(Source: Global Times)