Exclusive | Overseas deals in the cross hairs at Beijing’s key financial policy meeting, sources say
National conference held every five years said to focus on containing risk, particularly from cross-border investments
Financial risk stemming from ambitious outbound investments will go under the microscope at a key financial policy meeting in Beijing in the middle of this month, sources close to the government told the South China Morning Post.
The closed-door meeting – known as the National Financial Work Conference and held every five years – will focus on containing financial risk, including from cross-border investments and loans for projects in other countries, said the two sources, who declined to be named because they are not authorised to speak to media.
“The meeting will focus on warding off financial risk, including from cross-border transactions,” said one source, adding that there was “mounting suspicion” from Beijing over money-laundering in big overseas deals and a lack of returns on government-backed projects.
China’s overseas assets, excluding official reserves, surged from US$310 billion in 2004 to US$3.37 trillion at the end of 2016. The proportion of these assets in the country’s gross domestic product nearly doubled in that period to 30 per cent, as Beijing encouraged companies to expand their presence overseas – including infrastructure work in Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East under the belt and road trade plan launched in 2013.