中国地方政府通过融资工具抢购土地

Local governments in some of China’s smallest cities are snapping up their own land at auctions, in a destructive cycle designed to prop up property prices but which is ravaging their own finances.

中国一些小城市的地方政府正在抢购它们自己拍卖的土地，这种破坏性循环本意是要推高屋价，结果却正在破坏它们自己的财政。

Local government financing vehicles (LGFVs) in at least one wealthy province, Jiangsu, which borders Shanghai, accounted for more land purchases than property developers did in 2013 — the last year for which data were available — according to research collated by Deutsche Bank.

德意志银行(Deutsche Bank)研究发现，在2013年（可获得数据的最近年份），至少一个富裕省份——与上海毗邻的江苏省——的地方政府融资工具(LGFV)所收购的土地超过了房地产开发商所购买的土地。

The data signal that cash-strapped local governments are switching money from one pocket to another rather than booking real sales.

该数据表明，资金紧张的地方政府正在将资金从一个口袋转移到另一个口袋，而不是记录真实的销售收入。

“China faces a severe fiscal challenge in 2015,” said Zhang Zhiwei, Deutsche Bank’s chief Asia economist, yesterday, as local governments are forecast to record the first contraction in revenues since 1994 and total government revenues grow by the smallest percentage since 1981.

德意志银行首席亚洲经济学家张智威昨日表示，“中国在2015年将面临严峻的财政挑战，”地方政府据预计将出现自1994年以来的首次收入萎缩，政府总收入将创下自1981年以来最低的百分比增速。

Deutsche Bank reviewed data for only four provinces, but concerns about the health of property markets in third-tier cities across China are mounting.

德意志银行仅评估了4个省份的数据，但人们对中国三线城市房地产市场健康状况的担忧却在日益增长。

Local government budgets, especially in smaller cities, rely on land sales, which in turn are dependent on strong property demand and prices.

地方政府预算（尤其是在中小城市）依赖土地销售收入，从而需要房地产需求和价格保持强劲。

A glut of new building combined with tougher credit markets has cooled interest in all but the largest cities, forcing local governments to step in and prop up their own land prices.

大量新建住屋进入市场，再加上信贷市场收紧，导致几乎所有大城市的房地产市场降温，从而迫使地方政府出手推升本地地价。

Land sales accounted for about a quarter of local government revenues on average across China but there was a “huge range”, said Debra Roane of Moody’s rating agency. “The issue is that land as a source of revenue is highly volatile.”

穆迪(Moody’s)的黛博拉•罗恩(Debra Roane)表示，平均而言，土地销售收入占到中国地方政府收入的大约四分之一，但不同城市差异很大。“问题在于，把土地作为收入来源极不稳定”。

LGFVs appeared about six years ago. Created to fund Beijing-mandated stimulus projects in the wake of the global financial crisis, they quickly exacerbated concerns over rising levels of local government debt. Use of the vehicles to prop up land prices would stoke those concerns.

地方政府融资工具大约出现在6年前。它们创立的目的是为中国政府在全球金融危机后出台的刺激项目融资，后来很快加剧了人们对地方政府债务水平增长的担忧。使用这些工具推升地价将会进一步加剧这些担忧。

“Land sales are among the most polluted statistics in China,” said Anne Stevenson-Yang of J Capital Research. Land sales to LGFVs could be a means to repay debt, move collateral or maintain the value of land locally, she said.

美奇金投资咨询公司(J Capital Research)的杨思安(Anne Stevenson-Yang)表示：“土地销售情况是中国扭曲最为严重的统计数据之一。”她补充称，将土地出售给地方政府融资工具可能是偿债、移除担保或者维持当地土地价值的一种手段。

The Chinese population’s continued preference for large metropolitan areas flies in the face of Beijing’s urbanisation policies, which try to force investment, construction and home purchases to smaller cities and county seats.

中国人对大都市的一贯喜好与中国政府的城镇化政策相悖，政府试图让人们在中小城镇投资、建设和购房。