(Businessweek) As fears rise of companies going bankrupt and local governments defaulting, and with speculation mounting about a coming “Bear Stearns Moment,” it’s worth looking at which parts of China are most indebted.
Digging down into the debt morass, region by region, has only just recently become possible. Following orders from Beijing regulators, as of the end of January and for the first time ever, all of China’s 30-some provinces (including the big, centrally administered cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Chongqing) have released figures showing their relative states of indebtedness.
Although there’s plenty to worry about, the picture is a very mixed one, with debt-to-revenue ratios varying from a low of 69 percent in the coastal province of Shandong to as high as 156 percent in the fast-expanding megalopolis of Chongqing, previously run by disgraced leader Bo Xilai.
