The China offshore USD bond new issuance declined to USD25.3 billion in 1H2023, representing a year-on-year decrease of 59.2%, mainly due to the USD interest rate hikes, more volatile exchange rate and the exit of weaker issuers. On the contrary, the China offshore RMB bond new issuance showed remarkable growth both in issuance amount and number of issues in 1H2023, mainly supported by the boom in Free Trade Zone (“FTZ”) bonds issuance.