Report Summary 1. Industry Investment Rating No industry investment rating is provided in the report. 2. Core Views - The highlights in 2024 are the significant slowdown in the growth rates of interest - bearing debt and urban investment bonds of urban investment platforms, the remarkable effect of "hidden debt turning into explicit debt", and the convergence of investment and financing intensity [6][8][66]. - Concerns include the need to improve the financing structure, the considerable debt pressure in economically large provinces like Zhejiang and Jiangsu, the reduction of book funds and the decline in the coverage ratio of monetary funds to short - term debt, and the large - scale outstanding project payments from local governments to urban investment platforms and inter - state - owned enterprise transactions [6][8][67]. - In 2025, the focuses of urban investment include the delisting of financing platforms and their subsequent market - oriented transformation, the settlement of overdue enterprise accounts, and the resolution of non - standard products involving the public [9][68]. 3. Summary by Directory 3.1 2024 Urban Investment Debt Resolution Achievements - **Overall Debt Scale and Growth Rate**: The interest - bearing debt and urban investment bonds of urban investment platforms increased slightly year - on - year, with growth rates dropping to the lowest since 2019. The debt growth rate has declined for four consecutive years. The reasons are debt replacement by local government bonds, weakened project financing demand, and strict bond financing policies [13]. - **Provincial Debt Changes**: Six key provinces saw a year - on - year decrease in interest - bearing debt, with Tianjin and Guizhou having the most significant reduction. In terms of bonds, 12 provinces had a year - on - year decrease in urban investment bond scale, with Jiangsu, Tianjin, Hunan, and Guizhou having obvious shrinkage [17][19]. - **Debt Ratio Changes**: The local broad and explicit debt ratios continued to rise, with the explicit debt ratio's year - on - year growth rate reaching a new high in recent years. Since 2021, the growth rate of the explicit debt ratio has been higher than that of the broad debt ratio, in line with the debt resolution idea of "hidden to explicit". Most provinces saw an increase in the broad debt ratio in 2024, except for six provinces [22][25]. - **Financing Structure Changes**: The proportions of bank loans and bonds in urban investment debt both decreased year - on - year, with a combined decrease of 2.2 percentage points. This part of the financing demand may have shifted to high - cost non - standard financing channels [4][27]. - **Debt Maturity Structure Changes**: The proportion of long - term debt increased slightly in 2024, but there is still room for improvement compared with 2019 - 2022 [39]. 3.2 Information Revealed by the Three Financial Statements of Urban Investment Platforms - **Balance Sheet**: The asset - liability ratio of urban investment platforms was basically stable, but the short - term solvency weakened. The coverage ratio of monetary funds to short - term debt decreased, and the government's project payments and inter - state - owned enterprise transactions may still need improvement [5][43]. - **Income Statement**: The operating income of urban investment platforms decreased for the first time in six years in 2024, and the net profit continued to decline. This is related to the tight investment and financing environment and the change in government assessment focus [5][51]. - **Cash Flow Statement**: The net operating cash flow of urban investment platforms deviated from the income statement and increased significantly after turning positive in 2023. The net investment cash flow was continuously negative, and the net financing cash flow decreased by 39% year - on - year, indicating a convergence of investment and financing intensity [5][57][60]. 3.3 Summary and Outlook - **Summary**: The growth rates of interest - bearing debt and urban investment bonds slowed down, the debt scale was effectively controlled, and the investment and financing intensity of urban investment platforms converged [66]. - **Outlook**: In 2025, focus on the delisting and market - oriented transformation of financing platforms, the settlement of overdue enterprise accounts, and the resolution of non - standard products involving the public [9][68].