Since the reform and opening up, my country's investment method has changed from exclusive government investment in the past to multi-channel investment by governments at all levels, various departments and state-owned enterprises, narrowing the scope of mandatory plans, decentralizing project approval authority, and simplifying approval procedures, change the investment allocated within the national budget to bank credit management, implement hierarchical management of major long-term construction investments, increase local responsibilities for key construction, establish a capital construction fund system, establish a national professional investment company, and establish Policy banks implement project ownership, bidding and project supervision systems, and give full play to the role of the market and competition mechanisms. Specifically, in the reform process of my country's investment and financing system, it has mainly gone through the following processes:
1. Trial implementation of the allotment-to-loan system
Since 1979, the country has been reforming the capital construction investment system. It first selected a group of people with the ability to repay in the light industry, textile and other industries in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong and other provinces and cities. The project will trial the allocation-to-loan system. The trial scope was expanded in 1982 and fully rolled out in 1985. In 1986, some adjustments were made. Investment within the national budget was divided into two parts: investment within the national budget and allocations converted into loans within the national budget. For non-operating construction projects such as scientific research, schools, and administration without the ability to repay, free investment was restored. method of appropriation. Differential interest rates of 2.4-12% will be implemented according to different industries when the national budget allocation is converted into loan investment. In terms of government investment management, the Planning Commission is the leader and is responsible for formulating capital construction plans. The Finance Committee is the cashier. It allocates funds to the People's Construction Bank of China at the same level according to the allocation-to-loan investment plan determined by the State Planning Commission. The People's Construction Bank of China is responsible for adjustments. and supply funds, and supervise and manage projects.
The implementation of a fund supply method of coexistence of grants and loans for capital construction investment arranged within the budget is an affirmation and improvement of the government's paid investment method. Replacing appropriations with loans will help investors enhance their concepts of capital turnover and principal and interest repayment, and overcome the shortcomings of eating from the national "big pot". However, due to the lack of distinction between government and enterprises, loan decision-makers do not bear any risks, and government investment loans are provided by various parties. The planning department at the provincial level represents the government in making decisions. Whether to lend or not, to lend more or less, to lend more or less, or to lend early or late is not decided by investors nor is it completely controlled by the lending bank. Instead, it is decided by government departments. As a result, multiple responsibilities have emerged among policymakers, investors, and lenders. Everyone is responsible for government investment, but they have not clearly implemented it. In addition, the legal system is imperfect and property rights are unclear, making it difficult to safeguard the economic rights and interests of both borrowers and lenders. , economic responsibilities cannot be held accountable, a large number of decision-making errors have occurred, loans cannot be repaid on schedule, serious bad debts, low economic efficiency in the field of infrastructure construction, and poor self-accumulation capabilities of enterprises.
2． The capital construction fund system was implemented and professional investment companies were established.
The capital construction fund system was implemented and professional investment companies were established. The investment method took the first step towards separating government and enterprises, and began to try to use economic methods to manage investment. In order to ensure the construction of the country's important basic industries and infrastructure and change the situation in which plans, financial allocations, and government investments under the Planning Commission are essentially free of risk liability constraints and it is difficult to hold accountable for mistakes, the capital construction fund system has been established since 1988, and Six national professional investment companies in energy, transportation, raw materials, electromechanical and textile, agriculture, and forestry have been established at the central level, responsible for managing and operating central investment projects, and using economic methods to manage government investment. Capital construction funds are divided into operating and non-operating funds. For operational investments, the State Planning Commission will cut them into pieces and give them to professional investment companies for key construction such as infrastructure and basic industries. Operating capital construction funds are divided into soft loans and hard loans. Soft loans are used for non-operating investments with low repayment capacity, and are mainly used for the construction of culture, education, health, scientific research, etc. in various central departments and the management of large rivers. Each province, autonomous region, and municipality directly under the Central Government can establish capital construction funds accordingly according to the specific conditions of the region. The six major professional investment companies are enterprises engaged in fixed asset investment and development in nature. They have the functions of holding companies and are responsible for maintaining and increasing the value of central investment. At the same time, they also have the function of policy investment. However, national professional investment companies also have the disadvantages of indistinguishability between government and enterprises and unsmooth relationships. The original intention of implementing corporate management of state investment has not been realized. The relationship between the six professional investment companies and the competent authorities is not smooth. The project approval power lies with the State Planning Commission and the competent authorities, but the investment is mainly arranged by the national professional investment companies. Several companies want to manage this type of construction projects, but in fact No one can control it. This has resulted in a situation where both the competent authorities and professional investment companies have to manage construction projects, with multiple managers and no one managing them. In the past, construction projects were only responsible to the industry authorities. After the reform, there was another mother-in-law, and the company had another curse.
3． Converting loans to investments
In order to change the disadvantages of converting appropriations into loans, the government implemented the conversion of loans into investments in 1996. For all state-invested projects, including infrastructure projects, the state will allocate investment funds to enterprises and construction units as capital funds, which will be independently operated by the enterprises based on the principle of separation of owners and operators. For new investment projects, if the capital invested by the state is insufficient, enterprises and construction units can apply for loans from banks, borrow from the public, or implement shareholding operations.
Changing loans to investment does not mean simply restoring the past appropriation system. Due to the imperfect system of past appropriation investment, the entities that used the funds were actually unable to truly assume economic responsibilities. Now the state capital is changed to investment in enterprises and construction units, and the use of The payment unit must pay income to the owner based on the capital profit rate and the occupied funds. This approach is conducive to enhancing the financial self-discipline of the project construction unit and is also conducive to improving the efficiency of government investment.
4. Establish policy banks and improve the government investment and financing system
For a long time, project investment in basic industries has mainly relied on policy loans, special loans from professional banks, local "platter investments" and various government investment bonds. Due to the expansion of local government's "princely economy", the impact of social "disorderly fund-raising", the proliferation of "illegal lending" by banks, and the serious loss of tax revenue paid to the central government, the source of funds for key construction projects of the government, especially the central government, is very unstable. In order to completely change this situation of chaotic operation methods, multiple political branches, and different policies, the country carried out major reforms in the government investment methods in 1994. It abolished the original six major national investment companies, divested the policy businesses of professional banks, and transformed the policy The sex business was transferred to the newly established China Development Bank, and the Agricultural Development Bank of China and the State Export-Import Bank were also established. The main loan targets of these three policy banks are the country's infrastructure, basic industries and pillar industries. They act as agents of government investment and combine the policy investment and financing business of planning, finance and banks to form a more effective government investment operation. Way. This is based on the basic premise of maintaining capital and low profits, further standardizing the paid use of policy investments, and creating conditions for ensuring the long-term stability of the sources of policy investments in basic industries.
In terms of government investment methods, the working capital system and the exploration of converting infrastructure allocations into loans and loans into investments, the establishment of policy banks and the later establishment of a state-owned asset management fund (specifically used to handle state-owned assets (bad debts) are all exploratory processes that have gradually put our country's government investment and financing system on the track of standardization. Although there are still problems of one kind or another, the results achieved are still eye-catching.
5. Fiscal interest discount system - explore the use of fiscal funds to guide social funds to invest in basic industry construction
If enterprises invest in basic industry projects and do not receive average profits, their enthusiasm for investment will be curbed. The government will use fiscal subsidies to To make up for it, it will increase the enthusiasm of enterprises to invest in basic industries. In order to give full play to the guiding role of government investment, the national finance has implemented a fiscal interest discount policy for infrastructure policy loan projects since 1986. From 1986 to 1994, the state finance used 7.08 billion yuan in interest discounts to support more than 300 projects in more than a dozen industries such as agriculture, energy, transportation and communications, and raw materials.
6． Continue to explore BOT investment methods to attract and utilize foreign capital
Before the 1990s, my country’s investment in basic industries basically consisted of government departments directly determining construction projects and direct investment, and the government also directly participated in basic industries. The operation of facilities and basic industries is burdened with heavy price subsidies. The forced low prices make operating income unable to repay various domestic and foreign debts, seriously weakening the government's ability to further invest in basic industries. Against this background, since the early 1990s, my country has introduced BOT, a new investment method to attract foreign capital for infrastructure construction, from abroad. The significance of this approach goes beyond attracting foreign investment. More importantly, it is an important attempt to change the government's investment approach. The government only needs to identify, approve and accept the construction project, determine the project construction operator through bidding, invest a small amount of money or even no money, and in the end can obtain the ownership of the construction project, which is conducive to the separation of government and enterprises, and is also conducive to accelerating the development of my country's economy. Basic industries, especially the construction of infrastructure.
Overview of this period, government investment methods began to shift from single to diversified, from centralized to decentralized investment. There was a combination of free investment and paid investment, direct investment, participatory investment and indirect investment. Central investment and A flexible and effective investment method that pays equal attention to local investment. The reform of investment methods has broadened government investment and financing channels to a certain extent, consciously guided and promoted social funds to invest in economic construction, and changed the past management of investment decision-making rights, fund-raising rights, project selection rights, and project investment. The old practice of concentrating power in central government agencies is trying to gradually transition the rights to fund raising, project selection, project investment implementation and supervision to government agents and social intermediaries. However, the transformation of the government's investment functions does not happen overnight. Since government investment has not yet established a flexible and effective exit mechanism, the government's functions have not been straightened out, and there is no clear answer on how to deal with the accumulated state-owned capital (part of the competitive capital). Investment Method reform still needs to be deepened.