China to sell first dollar bonds for 13 years

BEIJING: China on Wednesday announced plans to sell its first dollar-denominated sovereign bonds for 13 years despite recent downgrades to its credit rating.

The $2 billion offering, announced by the finance ministry, is a drop in the bucket for China, which has sold 2.4 trillion yuan ($366 billion) of central government debt this year, according to Bloomberg News.

But the move could be intended to ease concerns after Standard & Poor's and Moody's cut its credit ratings in recent months due to the country's mounting debt load.

The finance ministry will sell $1 billion of five-year notes and $1 billion of 10-year notes in Hong Kong, but the statement did not say what interest rates it expected.

The first dollar-denominated debt issue since 2004 comes as the Communist Party prepares for its twice-a-decade leadership meeting next week.