China's total debt topped more than 100trillion yuan in 2012, which was 215 percent of that year's GDP, according to the China Balance Sheet 2013 released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).
China's social debt amounted to 111.6trillion yuan at the end of 2012, including 58.76 trillion yuan in non-financing sectors which accounted for 113 percent of the country's 2012 GDP and 27.7 trillion yuan of government debts, or 53 percent of GDP.
Last year, the corporate leverage ratio in China reached 113 percent of its GDP, compared with OECD's important marker of 90 percent.
Household sector debt was at 16.1 trillion yuan at the end of 2012 while bonds issued by financial sectors stood at 9.13 trillion yuan, the report said.
De-leveraging is inevitable for China as the whole nation’s leverage ration is pretty high as shown by the statistics, said Li Yang, deputy chairman of the CASS.
China's total debt level, mostly lower than that in developed nations, is mild and under control, said Li, adding, however, that China should be aware of the fast-rising debt.
The CASS report also showed that China’s net assets had exceeded 300 trillion yuan in 2011, underling small chances of a sovereign debt crisis in the future.
Source: The Sinocism Newsletter
