I’ve seen two figures when it comes to China’s debt: public debt, which is really low (like 30%), and the other being much higher, (although I can’t remember where I found it, what it measured, but I remember it being like 125%). And now when I was digging around for the exact numbers I’ve found other statistics saying the public debt is upwards of 70%, and others saying 50%.

Can someone explain because I’m just really confused? Thanks

  • Max
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    2 years ago

    I’m not specifically familiar with the situation you’re describing. Do individual Chinese citizens all owe significant amounts of debt (possibly concerning) or are we talking about national debt?

    If you’re describing national debt: Without any currency constraints, a country is limited in its economy only by its real productive capacity. National debt is money put into the economy that hasn’t been taxed back. National debt is part of accounting and does not resemble personal debt. In the national context, debt is by definition the total value of all bonds held by citizens, institutions, and other countries. when US politicians complain about the national debt, I imagine China trying to cash in US bonds and every American throws up their hands and says “I guess the Chinese state banks own the US now. Well, I’d better start learning mandarin”.

  • Soviet Snake
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    62 years ago

    I mean, having debt is not something bad, it means money is being spent, any normal country needs to have certain amount of debt or otherwise you are having an affair with Neoliberal economics where you take recessive policies. Also, although extreme high levels of debt that can’t be paid is obviosly bad (this does not mean it is what is happening here), the information you give is not fo helpful. Public debt is 70% of what? 70% of total GDP? 70% of total income in a household?