China Authorizes Sovereign Bond ETF

China has given the green light to the first exchange traded fund that would invest in government bonds, according to a report Wednesday.

The ETF is being readied as Chinese policy makes try to expand the debt market of the world’s second-largest economy, Bloomberg News reports.

The fund will be “a bridge” that allows individuals to invest in government debt traded on China’s interbank market, from which they are barred, according to the article.

Last year, the first yuan-denominated gold ETF started trading in Hong Kong. Several other fund companies in China were also readying ETFs to follow gold prices. [China Fund Managers Prepare Gold ETFs]

In October, China launched two yuan-denominated ETFs tracking Hong Kong stocks allowing mainland investors to indirectly trade shares, MarketWatch reported.

“The ETF rollout is part of a broader liberalization and improvement by Beijing of China’s tightly-controlled financial sector and capital markets as the government seeks to bolster domestic consumption and economic growth,” according to the story.

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