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China debt

A construction crew works on an expressway in China’s Yunnan province, which has launched a 100-day campaign to boost economic growth. Photo: Xinhua

China names, shames 8 authorities after warning regions to curb hidden debt

Notices from top legislature and finance ministry come with debt management under the microscope amid scramble to achieve economic growth targets for 2024.

Notices from top legislature and finance ministry come with debt management under the microscope amid scramble to achieve economic growth targets for 2024

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China’s debtors get ray of hope as Shenzhen shares bankruptcy data

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Are China’s local governments using unsustainable tactics to pay off debt?

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Opinion | To restore consumer confidence, China must save the property sector

Instead of squandering billions buying unsold properties, Beijing should learn from the US response to the global financial crisis.

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Illustration: Craig Stephens

Opinion | China’s third plenum shows its reform era has entered a new phase

As China strives to build a “high-level socialist market economy”, expect the central government to build on the reforms of past decades.

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Editorial | The current tensions in Bangladesh are not in anyone’s interest

Priority must be to restore order, protect investors from Hong Kong, mainland China, elsewhere. Bangladesh must not squander economic gains.

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Opinion | The era of the entrepreneurial Chinese local government is over

Local governments, so crucial to China’s economic take-off, have arguably become the biggest drag on the economy and must now be reined in.

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Cyclists and construction in Beijing on July 18. Municipalities’ dependence on land sales for revenue is one of the main factors behind China’s property bubble. Photo: EPA-EFE

Bond aid? China’s treasury should issue securities to ease local debt: academic

With China’s local governments under the yoke of heavy debt, calls are growing louder for the central government to lighten the load with treasury bonds – and eventually, reform of public finances.

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Meet China’s next debt collectors – educated, tech-savvy and following new rules

Banks and financial service companies in China are recruiting more educated and tech-literate personnel for their debt collections, a reflection of new rules that have professionalised the industry.

US Congress hearing prompts questions over spillover of China’s property slump

After a hearing in the US Congress, concerns over the downstream effects of China’s property market slump have grown – but analysts say such a spillover is improbable with the scale of government intervention.

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China’s ongoing crisis in the property market has stoked fears of an overseas spillover, an outcome most analysts say is unlikely. Photo: Getty Images

My Take | US, heal thy fiscal health first for the sake of the global economy

American lawmakers cannot or will not deal with their nation’s own multitrillion-dollar debt problem, so they complain about China’s.

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TV screens show US President Joe Biden and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Photo: Reuters

US House raises alarm over China’s multi-trillion-dollar ‘time bomb’

Ratings agencies S&P Global and Moody’s accused of failing to reflect risk posed by mainland’s local government financing vehicles.

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China’s ‘hidden debt’ seen shrinking, but scaling that mountain remains daunting

As Beijing continues to crack down on problematic local-level debt, economist Luo Zhiheng has run the numbers to estimate how much progress has been made.

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Letters | China’s local governments missing out on benefits of green bonds

Readers discuss a little-tapped funding source for China’s indebted local governments, why the waste charging plan failed, and the continuing need for English language training.

Workers install photovoltaic panels in Zhongwei, in China’s northern Ningxia region on May 9. Research has shown that nearly 20 per cent of the bonds put on the market by local governments in 2022 could potentially qualify as green bonds. Photo: AFP

No joy for China’s regional airlines as lawsuits add to local debt turbulence

Regional state carrier Joy Air has filed three lawsuits since the start of the year against three local governments in China, with two concerning overdue subsidies.

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Regional state carrier Joy Air has filed three lawsuits since the start of the year against three local governments in China. Photo: Weibo/幸福航空

Chinese localities test debt-for-data swaps as liabilities reach troubling highs

Local governments in China are exploring the use of data as an asset to help reduce their heavy debt burdens, but this has prompted concerns over efficacy and legality.

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Opinion | China is embracing sustainability to cope with economic headwinds

Despite some progress, the Chinese economy still faces problems but these can be overcome with targeted stimulus measures and a focus on sustainable development. By framing China as a threat, the US risks impeding global sustainability efforts.

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Fitch cuts outlook for China’s state-owned banks from stable to negative

The move by Fitch Ratings comes a week after it cut its projection for the country’s sovereign credit rating, reflecting pessimism in the world’s second largest economy and concerns over Beijing’s capacity to support its biggest lenders.

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Fitch said the current size of China’s banking system limits the amount of support the central government could give to its biggest lenders. Photo: Reuters

After years of unchecked infrastructure spending, Guizhou faces a debt reckoning

One of China’s most indebted provinces has brilliant bridges and vast roads, but also one of the nation’s worst per capita income levels, along with debt pressure that could weigh down the region for years.

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Small firms are ‘capillaries’ of China’s economy. But why are they struggling?

Survey finds that shrinking market demand and outstanding billables continue to plague small and micro-sized Chinese firms, leaving struggling owners feeling increasingly lost at sea.

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China’s plan to grow economy with infrastructure is self-contradictory: analyst

Striving to reduce local government debt while boosting China’s local-level economies through investment is seen as a conflicting approach, while a decline in construction machinery operations does not bode well.

One of the world’s top makers of construction machinery has released figures pointing to a potential slowdown in Chinese infrastructure projects. Photo: Xinhua

The View | Without a debt deal, low-income nations have no viable future

Lessons from the G20’s failed attempts at restructuring sovereign debt must be learned. Why not explore debt-for-development swaps, where loans are in effect turned into investments, and market-based alternatives such as packaging the debt into securities?

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A demonstrator with an anti IMF debt and G20 sticker takes part in a protest against a G20 finance ministers’ meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in July 2018. Over the past three years, 18 sovereign defaults have occurred in 10 developing countries – more than the total over the past two decades. Photos: Reuters

Caught in a tram: Chinese city’s ‘white elephant’ project named and shamed

A city in China’s northwest has been thrust into the spotlight for a light rail project that has seen delays, environmental criticism and cost overruns amid a campaign to curb excessive spending.

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My Take | The West’s privatising of lending to poor nations is laying the real debt traps

Spreading debt distress and rising extreme poverty in Global South have more to do with Western private-public lending practices, often promoted by Washington, than China.

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China’s graft busters shame city boss for wasting US$21 billion on pet projects

CCTV documentary featuring former Guizhou official who left a city at risk of default suggests that the country’s graft watchdog will target the misuse of public funds this year.

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Former Guizhou official Li Zaiyong confessed to misusing public funds in a documentary broadcast on state TV. Photo: CCTV

Outside In | Economists made wrong call on 2023 recession. But their alarm is real

2023 ended without the technical recession economists expected, but their warning of stagflation and a potentially crippling debt crisis should not be easily dismissed.

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Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell at a news conference on September 20. For those expecting a technical recession only in the US, the call was deeply and embarrassingly off target. Photo: Getty Images/TNS

Editorial | Development without sacrificing stability key for China’s year ahead

Top economic meeting makes it clear that the way forward for the nation in complex conditions is to build resilience and capacity for longer-term growth.

China’s local government financing vehicles at lower risk of default in 2024: Fitch

China’s municipalities will see lower default risks at their local government financing vehicles (LGFVs) next year, thanks to a gradual recovery in fiscal revenues and policy support from the central government, analysts said.

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China debt
The latest news and features on China's debt, both local and national.
last updated:
9 September, 2024
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