Since taking off five years ago, China’s debt market has had the appearance of a one-way bet. The country’s turbocharged growth meant corporations were typically in good enough financial health to pay back their loans. But even those companies that ran into trouble did not face the risk of default, since the government would order state-owned banks to ride to their rescue. The same principle applied to local authorities, which were put in the position to borrow large sums of money via off-balance sheet financial vehicles.
中國債券市場自五年前開始迅猛發展以來,已呈現一種「單向押注」的特點。中國經濟的超高速成長意味著,企業的財務狀況通常不錯,足以償還所貸款項。然而,即便是那些遇到麻煩的企業,也不會面臨違約風險,因爲政府會命令國有銀行出手救援。同樣的原則也適用於地方政府,這些地方政府能夠通過表外金融工具借入大量資金。