Global Courant 2023-05-23 12:50:00
BEIJING – As China’s economic growth gets back on track after three years of the Covid-19 pandemic, efforts to tackle the mountain of so-called “hidden debt” accumulated by local governments are once again a priority on the agendas of top policymakers. .
New concerns have emerged that declining income growth and rising spending in recent years may force local authorities to resort to new off-the-book lending while limiting their ability to service debt. These liabilities are estimated by some to be close to $10 trillion (S$13.4 trillion), roughly double the GDP of Japan, the world’s third-largest economy.