China is ready to launch government bond futures in the "first half of the year" as it expands the scope of financial derivatives allowed to trade on the domestic market.
The China Financial Futures Exchange has made all necessary preparations and trading in the bond futures can start within one or two months after the bourse gets regulatory approval from the State Council, said Zhang Shenfeng, general manager of the exchange.
"The bond futures are 'very likely' to be unveiled in the first half of this year," he told STV News in an interview yesterday on the sidelines of the Shanghai People's Congress meeting.
He said the bond futures on the most-traded five-year bonds would be the first to be launched.
Government bond futures offer a hedging tool for interest rate risk and are part of the ongoing attempts to liberalize interest rates.
The financial futures exchange is one of China's four futures bourses.
