The Ministry of Finance announced today (October 11) that it will issue US dollar sovereign bonds totalling US$2 billion in Hong Kong, of which US$1 billion will be issued in 5-year tenor and the remaining US$1 billion in 10-year tenor. This will be the second time this year that the Ministry of Finance has issued sovereign bonds in Hong Kong. The first batch of sovereign bonds totalling RMB7 billion was issued on June 26.

     The Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan, said, "The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government welcomes the Ministry of Finance's issuance of US dollar sovereign bonds in Hong Kong. This is the first issuance of US dollar sovereign bonds after Hong Kong's return to the motherland. Not only does it demonstrate the Central Government’s support in reinforcing Hong Kong's status as an international financial centre, but it is also conducive to the development of local bond market. Currently, a person is exempted from the payment of profits tax in respect of sums received by or accrued to the person as interest or profits arising from the RMB sovereign bonds issued by the Central Government in Hong Kong. We will study to extend the scope of the profits tax exemption to cover non-RMB (including US dollar) sovereign bonds issued by the Central Government in Hong Kong."

Ends/Wednesday, October 11, 2017
Issued at HKT 12:59

NNNN