Pandemic Bonds Issued by the Chinese Government Supported Post-Disaster Recovery from COVID-19 Pandemic

During the SARS-CoV-2 (COIVD-19) outbreak, China repeatedly stressed that the response to the pandemic required action at all levels of government, including the issuance of Pandemic Bonds to help the country return to work and production. However, studies on the effectiveness of Pandemic Bonds during that period are rare. Starting with China’s national financial bond market data after COVID-19 in 2020, this paper focuses on the correlation between the Credit Spreads of the relevant bonds and the corresponding bond market rate of return, based on the Copula model. The empirical analysis is also carried out for multiple dimensional groupings such as enterprises, industries, provinces, and bond maturities. The results show that there is a significant positive correlation between the Credit Spreads of Pandemic Bonds and market returns. In addition, the market correlation is higher for Pandemic Bonds issued in Hubei Province, which is at the center of the 2020 pandemic, and the shorter the maturity of the Pandemic Bond issued, the stronger the relationship with market returns. Finally, this paper provides recommendations for financial regulators and policy makers to consider in their decisions on how to build a more resilient financial system under heavy economic, fiscal, and social pressures.

Abstract licence: CC BY

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