BEIJING, April 30 (Xinhua) -- China has allocated 91.5 billion yuan (about 13.33 billion U.S. dollars) in new ultra-long special treasury bonds to fund large-scale equipment upgrades in 2026, the country's top economic planner announced on Thursday.

This marks the second batch of funds raised through such bonds for the programs this year, the National Development and Reform Commission said in a statement.

These funds will back more than 6,700 projects across 16 sectors, including industry, electronic information and recycling, driving total investment of over 380 billion yuan, the commission said.

The program also continues to support the scrapping and updating of old freight trucks, new-energy city buses and outdated agricultural machinery.

Including the first batch of 93.6 billion yuan allocated earlier this year, a total of 185.1 billion yuan has now been earmarked for equipment upgrades in 2026, the commission noted.

Driven by the program, investment in equipment and tools grew 13.9 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2026, accelerating 2.4 percentage points from the January-February period and contributing 2.3 percentage points to overall investment growth.

Ultra-long special treasury bonds are government securities with maturities typically of 10 years or longer. They are used as a policy tool to finance long-term, large-scale investments aligned with national priorities, while also helping to stabilize growth by injecting sustained fiscal support into the economy. ■