China has opened applications for an 800 billion yuan ($119 billion) policy-based financing tool for local government projects and faces official pressure to put the funds to work quickly after fixed-asset investment fell 5.7% in the first half of 2026 and 6.7% over the first seven months. Applications began on Aug. 24 for the equity-like facility, which targets infrastructure, high-tech manufacturing and AI-related capacity and is meant to crowd in commercial-bank lending and private capital. A July 30 meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee on second-half economic work called for stronger counter-cyclical adjustment, fuller use of existing policies and prompt incremental measures, including accelerating deployment of the 800 billion yuan instrument into specific projects, seizing the third-quarter construction window and advancing major schemes under the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30). Caitong Securities expects disbursement to trail applications by about a month, delaying much of the impulse until late in the third quarter or the fourth quarter. The program is 60% larger than the 500 billion yuan 2025 tool and pairs a 1.5 percentage-point central interest subsidy for qualifying SMEs, capped at 50 million yuan per firm, with a 500 billion yuan private-investment guarantee facility. Caitong estimates support for around 10 trillion yuan in total investment at roughly 13 times leverage, though the direct 2026 boost may be nearer 2 trillion yuan; Goldman Sachs sees a baseline GDP impact of about 0.5 percentage points, concentrated in late 2026 and early 2027.