China has temporarily suspended its plan to review new bond issues to slow bond sales amid the expansion of the anti-corruption campaign in the country, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.

According to an investment banker, the National Development and Reform Commission has yet to disclose the reason for the suspension or until when it will last, but the commission is expected to be stricter in its bond sales regulation.

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The announcement of the suspension came after the country's corruption crackdown has reached China's economic planner.

Beginning July, China's anti-corruption watchdog has targeted stockbroking companies for potential bribery acts, and has focused on irregularities in bond underwriting, according to the 21st Century Business Herald.

In August, Chinese prosecutors said Zhang Dongsheng, a former head of the fiscal and financial affairs department at NDRC and the person in charge of China's corporate bond sales from 2003 to 2006, was being investigated in relation to possible bribery.

According to information from the China Central Depository and Clearing Company, the NDRC was able to regulate US$100.6 billion corporate bond sales issued by Chinese companies this year.

The amount is among the US$1.5 trillion worth of new bonds issued by the entire Chinese market so far this year.

Meanwhile, a source, who declined to be named, said that because of the bond sale suspension, the regulating power may shift from the NDRC to other regulators, such as China's central bank or other securities regulators.

Because of the suspension, the government's concern over bad debts has increased, following a series of financial anomalies in bond issuance and bank lending, which was publicized this year.

Originally, the United States is the worlds top corporate debt issuer, but the spot was recently taken by China.

However, in a statement released by the Standard & Poor's Ratings, the weakening Chinese economy and declining corporate profits may turn the "corporate debts into riskier bets," according to Nasdaq.

TagsAnti-corruption, business news, bond sales