This Great Graphic comes from the Wall Street Journal's News Graphics. It shows a broad range of estimates for Chinese debt. The bank and economic research firm's estimates include local government debt and apparently the IMF's estimate does not.
However, that would suggest that local government debt is almost twice as large as the central government's debt. The state debt is usually funneled through a special purpose vehicle and much of the debt has just been rolled over by state-owned banks. This is a problem that will eventually have to be dealt with, but the day of reckoning does not seem to be at hand.
It may also be of interest that as the chart shows, the estimate of US Treasury debt, which does not include the state and local government debt, or the debt held by Social Security is just shy of 75% of GDP, according to Office of Management and Budget.
Great Graphic: China's Debt Estimates Vary
Reviewed by Marc Chandler
on
February 13, 2013
Rating:
Reviewed by Marc Chandler
on
February 13, 2013
Rating:
