Notice of the Ministry of Finance on Further Improving the Work Related to the Administration of Sovereign External Debt

财政部关于进一步加强主权外债管理工作的通知

Promulgating Institution:Ministry of Finance

Document Number:Cai Jin [2008] No. 154

Promulgating Date:12/03/2008

Effective Date:12/03/2008

颁布机关:财政部

文      号:财金[2008]154号

颁布时间:12/03/2008

实施时间:12/03/2008

To the finance departments (bureaus) of all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government and specially designated cities in the State plan and the finance department of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps:

The work related to sovereign external debt has been carried out in China for 30 years. During these 30 years, China has obtained positive achievements from the aspects of supporting economic construction and social development by the utilization of long-term preferential loan funds, improving foreign financial and economic cooperation and optimizing the external debt structure. Through continual exploration and efforts, the finance departments at all levels preliminarily set up an administration system covering the whole process in terms of borrowing loans from international finance organization and the governments of foreign countries, utilizing loan funds and returning loans, while their administrative level and work efficiency are improving gradually. However, we must realize that there is still imperfection in our work. The system for the administration of sovereign external debt still needs to be improved, the regulation and administration of certain loan projects still need to be reinforced, and the problem of delay in repaying debts still exists. In order to implement the instruction reply of the State Council, seriously perform finance administration responsibilities and further improve the work related to the administration of sovereign external debt, the relevant requirements are hereby notified:

    各省、自治区、直辖市、计划单列市财政厅(局),新疆生产建设兵团财务局:

    我国开展主权外债工作30年来,在利用长期优惠贷款资金支持经济建设和社会发展、加强对外财经合作、优化外债结构等方面取得了积极成效。通过不断探索和努力,各级财政部门初步建立了涵盖国际金融组织和外国政府贷款借、用、还全过程的管理体系,管理水平和效率逐步提高。但是,我们必须认识到工作中仍存在不足,主权外债管理机制尚不健全,一些贷款项目操作不规范、管理不到位以及债务拖欠问题仍有发生。为落实国务院领导有关批示精神,认真履行财政管理职责,进一步加强主权外债管理工作,现将有关要求通知如下:

1. Practically change the idea for administration and further improve the whole process administration of sovereign external debt. All local finance departments shall practically change their ideas for the administration of sovereign external debt and achieve the changes in terms of focusing more on the administration of loans instead of focusing more on the borrowing and utilization of loans, focusing more on the quality of projects rather than the quantity of projects, and focusing more on the supervision and administration at the middle and later stage of a project instead of on the examination and approval at the preliminary stage of a project. All local finance departments shall seriously implement the measures for the administration of loans provided by international finance organizations and foreign governments and, with funds, financial issues and debts as the main theme, shall participate in the overall process of administration. Moreover, all local finance departments, based on their local actual circumstances, shall further improve the system covering each process of the administration of loan projects, clarify detailed rules for the operation and strictly implement those detailed rules, thus forming an administration chain that runs through a whole project. All local finance departments shall also improve the communications and cooperation with other relevant departments to form a coordination system and shall bring forth new administration methods, enhance administration efficiency and improve the overall administration of sovereign external debt, thus carrying out the administration in a more scientific way and paying more attention to particulars.

       一、切实转变管理理念,进一步加强主权外债全过程管理各地财政部门要切实转变主权外债管理理念,实现从重贷款借用向重贷款管理、从重项目数量向重项目质量、从重前期审批向重中后期监督管理的转变。要认真落实国际金融组织和外国政府贷款管理办法要求,以资金、财务、债务为主线,全过程参与管理工作,结合本地情况,进一步完善涵盖贷款项目管理各环节的制度体系,明确操作细则,严格执行到位,形成贯穿项目始终的管理链条。要加强与有关部门的沟通和配合,形成协调机制,创新管理方式,提高管理效率,全面推进主权外债管理的科学化和精细化。

2. Adhere to the principle of reasonable borrowing and strictly check on the examination and approval of loan projects. All local finance departments shall properly control the increase of the debt scale, take overall consideration of the requirements for local economic and social development, debt burden and finance capability, prepare long-term and sustainable debt planning using scientific method, adhere to the principle of reasonable borrowing and avoid indiscriminate borrowing, thus achieving the goal of using foreign preferential loan funds to support the economic, social and scientific development. All local finance departments shall learn from their experience and draw lessons from their mistakes in the past projects which were discovered through relevant audit and inspection, in addition, they shall reinforce the administration from the beginning of a project and, by taking the direction of loan utilization and the sustainability of the debt of the point of entry, shall participate in the project planning and conduct the examination and approval of the project establishment.

       二、坚持做到举债有度,切实把好贷款项目评审关各地财政部门要合理控制债务规模增长,统筹考虑本地经济社会发展需要、债务负担和财政承受能力,科学编制长期可持续的债务规划,坚持做到举债有度,避免盲目举债,实现国外优惠贷款资金支持经济社会科学发展的目标。要认真总结经验,深刻吸取历史项目审计检查发现问题的教训,从项目源头抓起,以贷款使用方向和债务可持续性为切入点参与项目规划和立项审批,主要支持经济社会发展中薄弱环节和重点领域,充分论证项目的必要性、可行性、经济社会效益等内容,加强与有关部门的协调与合作,共同把好立项审批关,提高项目成功率。

3. Reinforce the supervision and administration of loan projects and establish and improve the personnel accountability system. All local finance departments shall reinforce the supervision over each process of carrying out a loan project, pay more attention to the vulnerable processes (processes that might have problems), such as project procurement, utilization of funds, etc., thus preventing the issues of irregular procurement, non-standard financial management and failure to allocate supporting funds from happening and shall eliminate the issues of extracting loan funds, gaining loan funds by fraud or diverting loan funds in any way. All local finance departments, with the support of audit and supervision and inspection departments, shall seek effective measures for supervision and inspection, improve the system for regular report, project audit and regular inspection, subdivide the procedures while quantize the targets, thereby discovering problems in a timely manner and ordering its corrections within specified time limit. Moreover, all local finance departments shall establish an effective personnel accountability system, clarify the personnel who are accountable for each process of work, improve the sense of responsibilities and accountabilities thereby, forming ideological basis, preventing any type of problems from happening and shall impose strict penalties on any act that violates the provisions and any failure to fulfill the due responsibilities.

       三、加大贷款项目监督管理力度,建立健全责任追究制度各地财政部门要大力加强对贷款项目实施各环节的监督,着力抓好项目采购、资金使用等薄弱环节,防止招标采购不合规、财务管理不规范、配套资金不到位等问题的发生,杜绝通过各种方式套取、骗取、挪用贷款资金。要积极借助审计、监查等部门力量,探索有效的监督检查办法,完善定期报告、项目审计、经常性检查等制度,细化步骤、量化指标,及时发现问题并责令限期整改。要建立行之有效的责任追究制度,明确各个环节各项工作的责任人,强化责任意识,从思想上防止各类问题的发生,对违反规定和不能尽职尽责的要严肃查处。

4. Conscientiously carry out the performance evaluation of loan projects and improve the economic benefit resulting from loan funds. All local finance departments shall completely understand the significance of the work related to performance evaluation loan projects and according to the requirements of the relevant systems, shall promote the work related to the performance evaluation. All local finance departments shall focus on their work target and stick to the work principles, gradually establish and improve a system for performance evaluation of the relevant local loan projects, and seek to establish a dynamic system for monitoring and controlling the projects thus reflecting the performance of loan projects completely, accurately and objectively. All local finance departments shall establish a system of rewards and penalties based appraisal results, draw lessons from the past failures and promote advanced experience, improve the administration of one project, while, improving the level of administration of other projects to the extent of the overall administration of the work related to loans and, from all aspects, shall increase the economic benefit resulting from loan funds. In addition, all local finance departments shall endeavor to soon bring the work related to the performance evaluation of loan projects and debt management into the overall system of finance administration and information, thus realizing the integration of administration, business and technologies.

       四、认真落实贷款项目绩效评价工作,提高资金效益各地财政部门要充分认识贷款项目绩效评价工作的重要意义,按照有关制度要求扎实推进绩效评价工作。要把握工作目标和原则,逐步建立和完善本地贷款项目绩效评价体系,探索建立项目动态监控体系,全面、准确、客观地反映贷款项目绩效。要建立评比奖惩机制,不断总结教训和推广先进经验,在促进项目自身改进的同时,提高其他项目乃至整体贷款管理工作水平,全面提升资金效益。要争取早日将贷款项目绩效评价和债务管理纳入整个财政管理信息体系,实现管理、业务和技术的一体化。

5. Actively and steadily promote the work related to the repayment of debt and effectively prevent and solve debt risks. All finance departments shall urge persons liable for repayment of debt to strictly comply with on-lending agreements and to pay the due principal, interests and relevant costs in full amount. All finance departments,, according to relevant provisions, shall establish and manage loan repayment reserve funds which shall be in compliance with the requirements on proportion, thus meeting the requirements for revolving funds and the advanced payment for due debts in the future and upholding local governments' credits. All local finance departments shall practically enhance their sense of credit and reinforce the supervision over repayment of loans, refrain new default of debt repayment from occurring and shall solve the problem of the past default of debt repayment as soon as possible. With respect to projects that are willing to and satisfy the requirements for early repayment of loans, all local finance departments shall provide support to such projects, determine early repayment plans and shall implement such plans steadily. In addition, all local finance departments, based on the actual local situation shall seek to establish a statistics, monitoring and early warning system for local government external debts, implement the dynamic system of administration of debt indexes, prevent and solve debt risks and achieve a sound cycle of sovereign external debt, which is "able to obtain loans, able to make good utilization of loan funds and able to repay due debts".

Ministry of Finance

3 December 2008

       五、积极稳妥推进偿债工作，有效防范化解债务风险各地财政部门要督促还款责任人严格遵守转贷协议，按时足额偿还到期本金、利息及相关费用。要按规定设立和管理还贷准备金，达到比例要求，满足未来到期债务周转垫付需要，维护地方政府信用。要切实增强信用意识和加大监督还款力度，避免出现新增拖欠，并尽快解决历史拖欠问题。对具备提前偿还贷款意愿和条件的项目，要予以支持，确定提前偿还方案，稳步实施。要结合本地实际，探索建立地方政府外债统计、监测、预警体系，实施债务指标动态管理，防范和化解债务风险，实现主权外债“借得来、用得好、还得起”的良性循环。

    财政部

    二○○八年十二月三日