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The China bears' feeble growl
Since the twenty-first century began, skyrocketing housing prices in China,
except for a short respite during the global financial crisis, have caused
serious social discontent
A woman is seen at the Modern Moma commercial and residential complex in
Beijing, in this Aug. 24, 2011 file photo. Over the past decade, real-estate
investment in China has been the single most important contributor to
fixed-asset investment growth and to the economy too, analysts said. (Reuters)
Monday,05 December 2011 By : Yu Yongding
Project Syndicate
In recent months, bearish sentiment about the Chinese economy has surged, owing
largely to three conjectures. First, China's housing market is on the brink of
collapse. Second, China's fiscal position will worsen rapidly because of
massive local government debt. And, third, the collapse of underground credit
networks in bustling cities such as Wenzhou will lead to a broad financial
crisis across the country.
In fact, despite its problems, China's economy remains in good condition - at
least so far. Indeed, it is not yet near to hitting the rocks. Since the
twenty-first century began, skyrocketing housing prices in China, except for a
short respite during the global financial crisis, have caused serious social
discontent. After years of half-hearted effort, China's government has finally
clamped down on housing speculation. As a result, prices fell in October for
the first time this year, while real-estate investment growth fell as well.
But the fall in housing prices is unlikely to turn into a rout, because real
demand for houses will remain strong after speculative demand is driven from
the market. As soon as housing prices fall to an affordable level, buyers will
enter the market and set a floor under the decline. Moreover, because there are
no subprime mortgages in China and down payments are as high as 50-60 percent,
even a significant fall in housing prices will not seriously damage China's
mega-banks.
Over the past decade, real-estate investment in China has been the single most
important contributor to fixed-asset investment growth and therefore, to the
economy. Indeed, since the late 1990s, the real estate investment-to-GDP ratio
has been far higher than it was in countries like Japan and Korea during their
high-growth periods. It is simply wrong for a developing country with per
capita income of $5,000 to concentrate its resources on producing concrete and
cement. Although a significant decline in real-estate investment will have a
very serious negative impact on China's growth - which can and should be
prevented - as long as the fall is not too drastic, it is a welcome development.
Meanwhile, local government debts are a relatively new phenomenon. In 2009,
local governments were encouraged to create Special Purpose Vehicles,
specifically "local finance platforms" (LFPs), to supplement China's RMB4
trillion ($628.7 billion) stimulus package. The LFPs would borrow from banks
using future government revenue as collateral to finance packaged-investment
projects in Chinese localities. By 2010, some 6,576 LFPs had been created.
There is no denying that local-government debt is a ticking time bomb for the
Chinese economy. According to China's National Audit Office (NAO), these LFPs'
total borrowing amounts to RMB10.7 trillion, of which 79.1 percent is bank
loans. But it is equally true that China's local-government debt has so far
been manageable, and there is no reason to believe that all of it is bad. In
fact, for the majority of the LFPs, the cash flow generated by investment so
far has been enough to meet repayment of principal and interest. According to
the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) - the largest of China's
"big four" banks - 93 percent of its loans to LFPs are being repaid regularly.
Indeed, the ICBC's non-performing loan (NPL) ratio for LFP loans is as low as
0.3 percent, while the corresponding coverage ratio - the bank's ability to
absorb losses from NPLs - is 1,066 percent. According to the NAO, the NPL ratio
for the RMB10.7 trillion in local-government debt is roughly 2.3 percent. A
significant proportion of total local-government debt either has no direct
relation to local governments, or cannot be guaranteed by them. Therefore, in
legal terms, it is not government debt at all.
In addition, given that local-government debt comprises 27 percent of China's
2010 GDP, while central government debt and policy loans stand at 20 percent
and 6 percent of GDP, respectively, the total public debt-to-GDP ratio is
approximately 53 percent - lower than Germany's. So, while China should not be
complacent about local-government debt, panic is unwarranted. Finally, there is
a long history of underground lending and borrowing in some of China's east
coast region, especially in Wenzhou. Whenever monetary tightening causes bank
credit to shrink, small and medium-size private enterprises are prepared to
borrow at suicidally high interest rates from relatives or loan sharks.
In recent years, real-estate speculation has become another important source of
demand for underground loans. When real asset prices fall and cause local
credit networks to collapse, not only are hundreds of families left financially
shattered and enterprises bankrupted, but banks suffer collateral damage, as
occurred recently in the Wenzhou region.
But the severity of Wenzhou's underground credit crisis has been exaggerated.
In fact, Wenzhou's underground credit accounts for less than 20 percent of
total credit in the region, while the region accounts for less than 1 percent
of China's GDP. The total volume of affected bank credit in the crisis was just
above RMB3 billion - roughly 0.5 percent of bank loans in the Wenzhou region.
So, the damage that the breakdown of Wenzhou's underground credit networks has
inflicted on the regional banking system is limited, with scant national impact.
Thus, despite the high likelihood that China's economic growth will slow
significantly in 2012, a hard landing is unlikely. Nevertheless, while there is
no need to be overly bearish about China's short-term economic prospects,
because of the slow progress in fundamental adjustment and further reform, even
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has noted that China's growth is ultimately
unsustainable. The real test has yet to come.
* Yu Yongding is a former member of the monetary policy committee of the
Peoples' Bank of China and former Director of the Chinese Academy of Sciences'
Institute of World Economics and Politics
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