Authorities will try to enforce financial discipline at a key meeting this month.
Beijing sources said yesterday that despite repeated reminders by Executive Vice-Premier Zhu Rongji and other leaders, regional officials and companies had continued to engage in questionable business deals.
As a result, a warning over financial discipline would be delivered at the second plenum of the Communist Party Central Committee scheduled for the middle of the month.
After the onset of the Asian financial crisis last autumn, central authorities sent circulars asking local administrations and state firms to halt illegal or irresponsible operations.
These included raising funds by offering abnormally high interest rates, and making speculative investments.
The sources said some regional banks had been unable to cut bad debts to the degree Beijing demanded in national financial meetings called by Mr Zhu late last year.
Several cities, including a few in Guangdong, had failed to stop illegal activities such as black-market trading in foreign exchange. The sources said regional Central Committee members would be given severe warnings at the plenum.
