By Dong Zhixin (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-08-15 11:00

China may begin issuing 600 billion yuan in special treasury bonds next week, the first batch of a planned 1.55 trillion yuan sale to finance the state forex investment company, a news report said on Wednesday.

The sale is likely to happen next Wednesday or Friday, Beijing-based Securities Daily reported, citing sources from the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC).

ABC will act as an intermediary by first purchasing the bonds from the Ministry of Finance before selling them to the central bank for the foreign exchange in its reserves, according to the report.

The finance ministry will then use the proceeds it receives to fund the forex investment company.

In late June, the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, approved the sale of 1.55 trillion yuan in special treasury bonds. The sale will be completed in three batches, with 600 billion yuan for the first and second batch, and 350 billion yuan for the last one, an earlier report said.

The report said the forex investment firm is expected to finish company registration in August and begin formal operations in September.

China decided to set up the ministry-level agency at the beginning of this year to make more profit from its massive foreign exchange reserves, which totaled US$1.33 trillion by the end of June. Most of the holdings are currently believed to be in safe, but low-yielding US-dollar denominated assets, especially treasuries.

The new entity has already made a bold move by investing US$3 billion for a less than 10 percent stake in US private equity firm Blackstone.