Bloomberg (may be gated) with the piece on Goldman Sachs estimate
- total debt of local government financing vehicles rose to about 53 trillion yuan ($8.2 trillion) at the end of last year from 16 trillion yuan in 2013
- That’s equal to about 52% of gross domestic product and is larger than amount of official outstanding government debt.
- “More official local government bond issuance and increased flexibility on local government financing are probably needed to support overall economic growth” as land sales are slowing, economists led by Maggie Wei wrote in the report.
(LGFVs are a tool for governments to borrow money without it appearing on their balance sheets, but it is seen as the same as a government liability by financial markets)
Meanwhile, haven't heard anything from Evergrande today:
