The Ministry of Finance will issue 8 billion yuan ($1.24 billion) in RMB-denominated sovereign bonds in Hong Kong's offshore market, and the primary auction will start on Thursday morning, the ministry said on Wednesday.

This is the year's first batch of RMB sovereign bonds the central government will issue in Hong Kong. The Ministry of Finance plans to issue RMB sovereign bonds totaling 20 billion yuan in 2021, according to the ministry.

After three years, the central government will, for the first time, issue 10-year RMB sovereign bonds totaling 1 billion yuan. The newly issued two-year bonds will be 5 billion yuan, and the five-year new bonds will be 2 billion yuan, the ministry disclosed.

Since the beginning of this year, the scale of RMB-denominated deposits in Hong Kong has increased steadily. As 21.4 billion yuan of RMB sovereign bonds will mature, the 20 billion yuan issuance, which is up 5 billion yuan from last year, will satisfy the market's demand, which will boost Hong Kong's status as an international financial center, the ministry said.

The central government started selling yuan-denominated treasury bonds in Hong Kong in September 2009. By the end of August, the central government had issued RMB sovereign bonds totaling 218 billion yuan in Hong Kong, data from the Ministry of Finance showed.

In addition, 3 billion yuan of such bonds have been issued in London and 2 billion yuan in Macao. The total outstanding amount of the RMB sovereign bonds in offshore markets reached 50.1 billion yuan by August.