National debt policy is an important subsystem of national macroeconomic policy, an integral part of fiscal policy, and one of the important levers for regulating resource allocation, economic interests, and the operation of the entire economy. This article intends to put forward some opinions on several issues of national debt policy from the combination of theory and practice, for further research reference by relevant parties.

1. What are the main problems in my country’s medium and long-term national debt policy?

In my country’s national debt policy, due to insufficient attention and research, in terms of national debt work, there used to be “short-term issuance of national debt” In the operation and use of national debt, there are major problems such as "fiscal deficit, deficit debt, and debt consumerization". ?

(1) The issuance of bonds is short-term. ?

The short-term behavior of national debt that existed in my country’s national debt work is mainly reflected in the following aspects: First, the short-term financing behavior, specifically manifested in the short term of national debt, high interest rates, and the advantages of gilt-edged bonds. Not fully utilized. Second, the design of the government bond issuance mechanism is unreasonable. The current treasury bond issuance mechanism is: current bond issuance scale = current year deficit + current treasury bond principal repayment + current year treasury bond interest payment. This mechanism is not designed from the perspective of national debt as an important means of national macro-control under market economy conditions. It is only designed to solve the current temporary financial difficulties. Therefore, it is not conducive to the control and management of fiscal expenditures and has no self-discipline effect on fiscal deficit control. , and the loss of restraint on the expansion of the national debt can easily lead to the blind expansion of the national debt. In foreign countries, foreign debt utilization expenditures are included in the regular budget, and at the same time, the proportion of fiscal deficit in GDP is restricted. In this way, the growth of national debt interest expenditures creates a "forced" mechanism to control the growth of fiscal expenditures, thus affecting the scale of national debts. Expansion creates an internal constraint. The third is the problem of consumerization in the allocation and use of national debt funds. In terms of distribution, the emphasis is on consumption (just to make up for the deficit) and not on development, and on immediate benefits but not on long-term benefits. In terms of use, emphasis is placed on direct benefits over social benefits, on short-term, flat and fast project construction, and on public utility development and infrastructure construction, resulting in too much debt for infrastructure development and affecting the sustainability, rapidity and development of the national economy. healthy growth. Fourth, in the selection of treasury bond holding objects, individual investors are valued and institutional investors are ignored, which is not conducive to national macro-control. The main reason for these problems is the neglect of the role that national debt should play in macro-control, and the neglect of the research and application of my country's medium and long-term national debt policy. Paying attention to the research and correct implementation of my country's medium and long-term national debt policy can prevent short-term debt behavior and better play the important role of national debt in macroeconomic regulation. ?

(2) Debtification of deficits and consumerization of debt. ?

Another major problem in my country’s national debt policy is the “debtification of deficits and consumerization of debt.” We should fully understand this serious problem from the perspective of preventing debt crises. In order to solve this problem, we should prepare a double-entry budget in strict accordance with the provisions of the Budget Law. That is to say, current expenditure projects must be supported by regular revenue arrangements, and the finance will use taxes to cover current expenditures and part of the cost of economic construction. In this way, current balance of payments projects cannot run deficits, and the intervention of national debt is not required or allowed. Only constructive projects are allowed to use national debt revenue for arrangements. National debt (credit funds) invested in economic construction should be recovered with interest (the new increment after investment should be greater than or equal to the amount of investment), that is, "the 'endogenous' repayment capacity of the national debt operation is greater than the total national debt supported by the repayment capacity." "The scale of debt is an appropriate national debt scale", and endogenous benefits can be used to repay old debts, instead of borrowing new debts to repay old debts every year. Debts are always rolling like a snowball, getting bigger and bigger, which will inevitably lead to a debt crisis. Only new borrowings every year are used to invest in new government projects. Each national debt has a corresponding project establishment, and the source of each debt repayment is guaranteed by the recovery of corresponding project construction funds. Only by relying on the "endogenous" benefits of national debt to repay it can we ensure the rationality and appropriateness of the scale of national debt and promote stable economic development. ?

(3) National debt policy has not truly become the combination of fiscal policy and monetary policy. ?

In developed economies, government bond interest rates are usually low and have become the reference for other financial product interest rates - the benchmark interest rate, which plays a very important role. In my country, on the contrary, the national debt interest rate is based on the bank interest rate and is set one to two percentage points higher than the bank interest rate. On the one hand, this distorted interest rate structure causes the pressure to repay the principal and interest of the national debt to expand too quickly and increases the fiscal burden. . On the other hand, it affects the formation of market interest rates and hinders the development of the capital market. ?

Although our country has been operating open market operations since April 9, 1996, which plays the role of connecting national debt policy with fiscal policy and monetary policy, open market operations have been weak due to various reasons. The role of national debt policy in linking fiscal policy and monetary policy has not been fully exerted. ?

(4) The scale of national debt has expanded too fast, increasing cumulative risks.