Peking Problem

The most pressing problem China faces and the one that forced Evergrande’s default, is overreliance on debt. China’s debt has vertiginously risen from 169% of GDP in 2008 to 306%, the same as the US, a developed nation with deep capital markets. Worse, productivity growth is collapsing as the money is increasingly wasted. Moreover, President Xi is clamping down on the highly productive private sector, which will reduce its productivity.