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163<br />

Figure 4: China’s Total Debt-to-GDP Ratio, 2007–Q1 2016<br />

Source: Bank of International Settlements, ‘‘Long Series on Total Credit to the Non-financial<br />

Sectors,’’ September 8, 2016.<br />

Mounting Debt Challenges for Local Governments<br />

China’s central-local government fiscal system allocates 53 percent<br />

of tax revenue to local governments, but requires local governments<br />

to fund 85 percent of centrally mandated programs. 189 To<br />

bridge the revenue gap, local governments have relied on off-balance-sheet<br />

local government financing vehicles (LGFVs) * and sales<br />

of land-use rights, commonly seized from local farmers at belowmarket<br />

prices. 190 The total size of local government debt, including<br />

LGFVs, is not known. China’s National Audit Office reported that<br />

LGFV debt reached $3.4 trillion (RMB 23 trillion) in 2015, but this<br />

number only measures direct LGFV debt for local infrastructure<br />

projects and does not incorporate all the commercial projects that<br />

LGFVs are now involved in.† A September 2016 paper from the<br />

Brookings Institution estimated that LGFVs financed around<br />

three-quarters of China’s fiscal stimulus in 2009 and 2010, and<br />

that after the stimulus, local governments used LGFVs to obtain<br />

financing for local champions and infrastructure projects, creating<br />

around $7.2 trillion (RMB 48 trillion) in LGFV debt by 2015. 191<br />

In 2014, the State Council’s amendments to the National Budget<br />

Law outlined its fiscal restructuring plan to bring off-balance sheet<br />

borrowing onto the budget, reduce the risk of local government default,<br />

and create more affordable revenue sources. 192 Reforms since<br />

2014 were aimed at reducing the debt burden and bringing all offbalance-sheet<br />

borrowing into the official budget. According to a<br />

dkrause on DSKHT7XVN1PROD with USCC<br />

* LGFVs use land and other government assets as collateral to raise funds for major infrastructure<br />

and real estate projects.<br />

† The China-based financial database WIND, which measures only LGFVs that issue bonds,<br />

found that LGFV debt totaled $5.5–5.6 trillion (RMB 37–38 trillion) in 2015. Chong-En Bai,<br />

Chang-Tai Hsieh, and Zheng (Michael) Song, ‘‘The Long Shadow of a Fiscal Expansion,’’ Brookings<br />

Papers on Economic Activity, Conference Draft, September 15–16, 2016, 12–13.<br />

VerDate Sep 11 2014 12:16 Nov 02, 2016 Jkt 020587 PO 00000 Frm 00073 Fmt 6601 Sfmt 6601 G:\GSDD\USCC\2016\FINAL\06_C1_C2_M.XXX 06_C1_C2_M<br />

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