On the heels of a report issued to the National People's Congress this past week, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences is out with its own analysis of China's local debt situation.
In it, CASS economist Li Yang argues there is no concern about a local debt crisis.
"Ever since the global economic crisis began in 2008, China's debt ratio has been climbing at a high speed. The three indicators, including sovereign assets, sovereign debt and net-public debt, are all on a rising curve. But if you look at Chinese local debt in a more objective way, you have to come to the conclusion that China doesn't have debt crisis. Numerous years of debt accumulation is why we're at the debt ratio we're at."
Last week's report to the NPC Standing Committee says local government debt in China sits at 86-percent of GDP, which
