Why China's drive to resolve hidden government debt could fall short

Some estimates indicate nation has around $10tn in such debt

Debt restructuring or swaps for local government financing vehicles, either through banks or special refinancing bonds, will only provide temporary relief against an imminent liquidity crisis, scholars and analysts say. © AP

CHENG SIWEI, DING FENG, ZHANG YUZHE and ZHANG YUKUN, Caixin

March 18, 2024 11:02 JST

China's central government has rolled out a new round of measures since the second half of last year to help local governments swap or restructure their off-the-books borrowing in a bid to control debt risk.

However, the sheer scale of the country's local government hidden debt -- up to more than 70 trillion yuan ($9.8 trillion), according to some estimates, which is over twice Germany's GDP -- means that the measures at best are far from adequate and will provide only temporary relief to what experts say is a looming liquidity crisis for regional authorities.