‘Everything’s OK’: China hits back at IMF verdict on health of banking system
Central bank says assessment ‘failed to comprehensively reflect the actual results’ of stress tests
China’s central bank has hit back at the International Monetary Fund over its reading of the country’s financial health, in Beijing’s latest bid to control the narrative on the world’s second-biggest economy.
The IMF’s twice-a-decade assessment of China’s economic and financial system is the most comprehensive review of its banks by an international institution, based on hundreds of meetings with Beijing’s financial bureaucrats.
But the People’s Bank of China made clear that it did not agree with all of the 70-page report, particularly the stress test results and the suggestion that China’s banking system was not as strong as official data shows.
“While the overall assessment of China’s financial system is objective and fair ... we also noted that there are some views and statements that we find it difficult to agree upon,” the central bank said in a statement issued hours after the IMF released the report on Thursday.
“We believe [the IMF’s] description of the stress testing of China’s banking system failed to comprehensively reflect the actual testing results.”