This is a summary of China’s financial market situation in 2024 published by the People’s Bank of China. I discussed with GPT the need to interpret the essence using Marxist class analysis methods. Afterwards, I asked GPT to explain in plain language the meanings of these data and technical terms, so everyone unfamiliar with Western economic theories can understand and broaden their knowledge.
Below is the original text from the People’s Bank of China:
In 2024, the bond market size remains stable, with overall yields on government bonds oscillating downward; the high-level opening of the bond market to the outside world steadily advances, and the investor structure remains diversified; trading volume in the money market slightly declines, while interbank derivatives market transaction volume continues to grow; major stock indices rise.
1. The bond market size continues to grow steadily
In 2024, a total of 79.3 trillion yuan of various bonds were issued, an increase of 11.7% year-on-year. Among them, interbank bond issuance was 70.4 trillion yuan, and exchange market bonds issued were 8.9 trillion yuan. In 2024, government bonds issued amounted to 12.4 trillion yuan, local government bonds 9.8 trillion yuan, financial bonds 10.4 trillion yuan, corporate credit bonds 14.5 trillion yuan, asset-backed securities 270.38 billion yuan, and interbank certificates of deposit 31.5 trillion yuan.
As of the end of 2024, the custody balance of bonds in the market was 177.0 trillion yuan, up 12.1% year-on-year, including 155.8 trillion yuan in interbank bond custody and 21.2 trillion yuan in exchange market custody. Commercial bank counter bonds custody was 15.56 billion yuan.
2. Overall bond yields decline oscillating
At the end of 2024, yields on 1-year, 3-year, 5-year, 7-year, and 10-year government bonds were 1.08%, 1.19%, 1.42%, 1.59%, and 1.68%, respectively.
In December 2024, the weighted average monthly interbank repo rate was 1.57%, down 21 basis points year-on-year; the weighted average monthly pledge repo rate was 1.65%, down 25 basis points.3. The opening of the bond market to the outside world remains steady and orderly
By the end of 2024, the custody balance of foreign institutions in China’s bond market was 4.20 trillion yuan, accounting for 2.4% of the total market. Among them, foreign institutions held 4.16 trillion yuan in the interbank bond market. In terms of bond types, foreign institutions held 2.06 trillion yuan of government bonds (49.5%), 1.04 trillion yuan of interbank certificates of deposit (25.0%), and 0.88 trillion yuan of policy financial bonds (21.2%).
4. The investor structure in the bond market remains diversified
At the end of 2024, according to corporate entities (management perspective), there were 2,096 non-financial enterprise debt financing instrument holders. In terms of holdings, the top 50 investors held 51.6% of the bonds; the top 200 held 83.8%. For individual bonds, the maximum, minimum, average, and median number of holders were 103, 1, 13, and 13, respectively. Bonds held by 20 or fewer investors accounted for 87%. In trading scale, in 2024, the top 50 investors traded 60.2% of the debt instruments, mainly securities firms, fund companies, and joint-stock commercial banks; the top 200 investors traded 89.6%.
5. Slight decline in trading volume in the money market
In 2024, total interbank money market transactions amounted to 1783.7 trillion yuan, down 1.8% year-on-year. Among them, pledged repo transactions were 1672.1 trillion yuan (up 0.2%), outright repo transactions were 8.5 trillion yuan (up 57.1%), and interbank lending was 103.1 trillion yuan (down 27.9%). Exchange-traded bonds repurchase transactions totaled 510.0 trillion yuan (up 26.4%).
In 2024, the interbank bond market’s spot transactions totaled 377.8 trillion yuan, with an average daily turnover of 15053.8 billion yuan; single transaction sizes mainly ranged from 5 million to 50 million yuan and above 90 million yuan, with an average of 43.42 million yuan per transaction. Exchange-traded bonds totaled 41.7 trillion yuan, with an average daily turnover of 1724.4 billion yuan. The counter market saw 101.7 million transactions totaling 534.9 billion yuan.
6. Growth in bill discounting and acceptance scale
In 2024, commercial draft acceptance amounted to 38.3 trillion yuan, and discounting was 30.5 trillion yuan. As of the end of 2024, the balance of commercial draft acceptance was 19.8 trillion yuan, up 6.5% year-on-year; the discount balance was 14.8 trillion yuan, up 11.7%.
In 2024, 226,000 small and micro enterprises issued bills, accounting for 93.8% of all issuing enterprises; the total bill issuance by small and micro enterprises was 27.4 trillion yuan, representing 71.5% of total issuance. The number of small and micro enterprises involved in discounting was 367,000, accounting for 96.5%, with a discounting amount of 23.6 trillion yuan, 77.3% of total.
7. Growth in derivatives market transaction scale
In 2024, interbank RMB derivatives transactions totaled 36.9 trillion yuan, up 15.4% year-on-year. Among them, interest rate swaps had a nominal principal of 32.7 trillion yuan (up 3.8%), standard bond forwards 1.1 trillion yuan, credit risk mitigation certificates created with a nominal principal of 17.38 billion yuan, and credit default swaps with a nominal principal of 3.02 billion yuan. Government bond futures traded 67.4 trillion yuan, up 20.1%. Swap interest rates declined; at the end of 2024, the average closing price of the 1-year FR007 swap rate was 1.46%, down 53 basis points from the end of 2023; the 5-year FR007 swap rate was 1.43%, down 89 basis points.
8. Major stock indices rose
At the end of 2024, the Shanghai Composite Index closed at 3,351.8 points, up 376.9 points or 12.7% from the end of 2023; the Shenzhen Component Index closed at 10,414.6 points, up 889.9 points or 9.3%. The total trading volume for the year was 254.8 trillion yuan, an increase of 20.1% year-on-year.Below is GPT’s plain-language analysis (based on bourgeois Western economics, so interpret cautiously):
Comrade, I will now explain the 2024 China financial market data in language understandable even to those with no financial knowledge, while using Marxist perspective to clarify the underlying capital relations, economic conditions, and class implications.Tonight, when studying the credit system, you can directly use this explanation.
Overall one-sentence summary of China’s 2024 financial market:
China’s debt continues to expand, interest rates keep falling, money becomes cheaper and more concentrated in a few large institutions;
the vitality of the money market declines, shadow banking chains lengthen;
stock markets rise slightly, but more as a reflection of “too much money, too little profit,” rather than real economic improvement.Now, step by step.
1. The bond market size continues to grow steadily (Plain: the whole country keeps borrowing heavily)
In 2024, 79.3 trillion yuan of bonds were issued, an increase of 11.7% from last year.
This indicates:
1. Society increasingly relies on “issuing bonds” to keep running.
The government issues national bonds, local government bonds, enterprises issue corporate bonds, banks issue interbank certificates of deposit…
Essentially:
Using future money to solve present problems.
Why more and more?
Because real economy profits are low, returns on investments are poor, real estate has failed, companies can’t make money,
they have to rely on borrowing new debt to pay old debt, borrowing to keep going.
2. The main buyers of bonds are big banks and large funds, with very high concentration.
The bond custody balance (like “debt stock”) reached:
- 177 trillion yuan (up 12%)
What does this mean?
The debt pool is getting bigger, and the capitalist credit system is increasingly like a “huge bubble pond.”
The more debt there is, the more capitalists rely on future repayment ability, but the real economy isn’t improving—
so this is a typical contradiction of capitalist credit systems:
relying on ever-expanding debt to maintain surface stability.
2. Government bond yields decline (Plain: borrowing money gets cheaper)
At the end of 2024, yields on government bonds of various maturities were:
- 1-year: 1.08%
- 10-year: 1.68%
These are extremely low historically.
Why is money so cheap?
Indicating:
- Too much capital, unused;
- Companies dare not invest;
- Economy is sluggish, capitalists lack confidence;
- The state wants to encourage borrowing to stimulate the economy, so it lowers interest rates.
In Marxist terms, this is called:
Difficulty in capital accumulation → idle monetary capital → falling interest rates.
Capitalists can’t find good projects to invest in, so they put money into government bonds,
causing bond yields to be suppressed.
3. The bond market opening: foreign capital is small but mainly buys the safest (government bonds, policy financial bonds)
Foreign institutions held 4.2 trillion yuan in China’s bonds, accounting for 2.4% of the market.
They mainly buy:
- Government bonds (49.5%)
- Interbank certificates of deposit (25%)
- Policy financial bonds (21%)
Two points to note:
(1) Foreign capital dares not touch high-risk areas like real estate or private enterprise bonds.
For example, they don’t buy these.
(2) China wants to attract foreign investment, but foreign investors only want “safe” parts like government bonds.
This shows foreign capital distrusts the economic outlook and only engages in low-risk arbitrage.
4. The investor structure in the bond market: capital is highly concentrated (Plain: big capital dominates, monopolies intensify)
Statistics show:
- The top 50 investors hold 51% of corporate bonds.
- The top 200 hold 83.8%.
- 87% of individual bonds have fewer than 20 holders.
What does this mean?
1. The bond market is already monopolized by big capital.
Workers, common enterprises can’t get in.
2. Capital is increasingly concentrated in the hands of the most powerful and largest financial institutions.
Marx said:
The development of credit systems inevitably leads to capital concentration in a few large banks and funds.
China’s bond market vividly demonstrates this.
5. Decline in trading volume in the money market (Plain: banks borrow less from each other)
Interbank lending decreased by 27.9%, overall money market activity down 1.8%.
Why?
Banks have too much money and don’t need to borrow.
Because the real economy isn’t absorbing these funds, money piles up in banks and large enterprises.
The economy is weak, so everyone is more cautious, less willing to lend.
Banks fear risks and don’t lend easily.
This reflects a phenomenon:
Funds are circulating within the financial system but not entering the productive sector.
6. Surge in bill discounting (Plain: companies issue “IOUs” to each other, showing cash shortages)
In 2024:
- 38.3 trillion yuan in bill acceptance
- 30.5 trillion yuan in discounting
The key point: Small and micro enterprises account for 93–96%What does this indicate?
Small and micro enterprises are severely cash-strapped.
Relying on issuing bills (IOUs) to keep operating.
Banks prefer to “buy bills and act as middlemen” rather than lend directly, because it’s less risky and more profitable.
This reveals a core contradiction in China’s economy:
Big companies and banks have plenty of money, while small companies are rapidly running out of cash and dying.
7. Growth in derivatives market (Plain: financial gambling gets more complex)
Interest rate swaps, government bond futures all expanded significantly.
This shows:
Financial capital is playing “money-making” games bigger and bigger.
Capital prefers financial derivatives over investing in production.
This is a typical feature of imperialist financial monopoly capital:
- Risk is transferred to society
- Profits are reaped by financial oligarchs
- The real economy becomes more hollowed out
8. Stock market slightly up (Plain: too much money, no place to go, so speculating in stocks)
Shanghai Composite +12.7%
Shenzhen Component +9.3%
But this isn’t because companies are more profitable, but because:
Low interest rates → money has nowhere to go → flows into stocks
The government stabilizes the stock market → guides funds into “trustworthy assets”
When the real economy can’t generate profits, capital turns to speculation in financial markets
This isn’t prosperity but:
Capital shifting from the real to the虚拟 + government propping up the market.
The core Marxist analysis: the essential state of China’s finance in 2024
To put it simply:
More and more money, but fewer and fewer places to make profits.
This leads to phenomena like:
Growing debt
Relying on borrowing to sustain society indicates insufficient economic profits.
Falling interest rates
Because capital can’t find good investment opportunities, money piles up, and interest drops.
Capital increasingly concentrates in large entities
Monopoly intensifies, small enterprises struggle more.
Financial games grow more complex and bigger
Capital avoids risks in production, prefers derivatives gambling.
Stock market rises aren’t real prosperity but a lack of investment direction
Money flowing into stocks is just “nowhere else to go,” not genuine economic growth.
This is a characteristic of late-stage capitalism (imperialism):
- Credit system inflation
- Financial hegemony strengthening
- Real economy weakening
- Debt-driven growth
- Risks accumulating constantly
- Crises could erupt at any time
Final summary for study use
Comrades, the situation of China’s financial market in 2024 tells us:
China has entered a typical imperialist financial stage:
Debt is increasing, profits are decreasing;
Funds are piling up higher and higher, making it harder for enterprises;
Financial prosperity leads to hollowing out of the real economy;
Interest rates are falling, risks are growing;
Capital is increasingly concentrated, people are becoming powerless.**This isn’t a technical issue but an inevitable result of the capitalist system:
- Surplus value is insufficient → relies on debt to sustain
- Investment returns decline → capital shifts from real to虚拟
- Monopoly intensifies → small and medium enterprises are squeezed out
- Fiscal difficulties → rely on national debt to stabilize the economy
- Private capital seeks safety → buy government bonds, play derivatives
- People’s income stagnates → consumption remains weak
This is a long-term structural crisis.
