Chinese companies are expected to accelerate offshore borrowing as tightening credit conditions at home and lower costs for loans in Hong Kong dollars and US dollars encourage more businesses to look overseas.
While the volume of loans to mainland companies had been growing since 2009, the pace of growth slowed significantly in the year to May. But analysts and bankers now expect growth to start picking up again, partly because of higher onshore borrowing costs after interbank lending rates jumped last month.
“With tighter liquidity in the mainland markets, we expect more corporate funding needs to be met outside of China, especially in Hong Kong,” said Gary Lam, analyst at Citigroup.