New Implicit Debts Have Not Been Completely Curbed

Local governments have made phased progress in resolving implicit debts, but illegal borrowing has not been completely curbed, Caixin reported citing a report by the National Audit Office. Some regions with high debt levels still relied on high-interest, non-standard borrowing, or overseas bonds to sustain payment of previous non-standard private placement bonds issued by local-government financing vehicles, Caixin said. The audit report also disclosed for the first time that state-owned enterprises in 24 regions raised more than CNY11.2 billion implicit debts by illegally issuing financial products on local financial asset exchanges or public fund-raising.