Reuters (August 7)
“Tackling China’s $470 billion bad debt pile is getting harder.” China Bohai Bank is “selling non-performing assets worth $4 billion,” underscoring “the pressure lenders are under as the country’s property bubble bursts. Yet buyers are feeling the strain too,” which will likely make the terms for subsequent disposals more onerous.
Tags: $470 billion, Bad debt, Buyers, China, China Bohai Bank, Disposals, Lenders, Non-performing assets, Pressure, Property bubble, Strain, Tackling
Financial Times (February 26)
These are, according to Citigroup analysts, “distinctly echoey times.” Their “research suggests that, if it is not careful, China may be on track for a new wave of Japanification.” China is now remarkably similar to Japan’s post-property bubble era in, for example, demographics. China’s population is “now shrinking as Japan’s did years earlier… a reminder that after 1990, Japan’s housing price index fell as the 35- to 54-year-old cohort decreased.” These and other factors call for warnings about “the potential risks for China’s banking system.”
Tags: 1990, Analysts, China, China’s banking system, Citigroup, Demographics, Echoey, Housing price index, Japanification, Population, Property bubble, Research, Risks, Shrinking, Warnings
