Explainer | China debt: has it changed in 2021 and how big is it now?
- China’s overall debt was 270.1 per cent of gross domestic product at the end of 2020, up from 246.5 per cent at the end of 2019
- China’s outstanding foreign debt, including US dollar debt, reached US$2.4 trillion in 2020
What is the nature of China’s debt?
Broadly speaking, China’s debt can be divided into domestic debt and foreign debt.
China’s domestic debt, denominated in yuan, consists of three components: corporate, household and government debt. Corporate debt includes borrowings by private sector and state-owned companies. Public debt is a combination of national and local government debt.
Household debt is the combined debt of all people in a household, including consumer debt and mortgage loans.
China's external debt
| Year | US$ |
|---|---|
| 1985 | 15.83 billion |
| 1990 | 52.55 billion |
| 1995 | 106.59 billion |
| 2000 | 145.73 billion |
| 2005 | 296.55 billion |
| 2010 | 548.94 billion |
| 2015 | 1.38 trillion |
| 2020 | 2.4 trillion |
Source: China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange
China’s foreign debt in currencies other than the yuan includes private sector firms’ borrowing from foreign banks, trade-related credit to Chinese firms from foreign trading partners, and debt securities issued by Chinese state-owned and private sector firms to foreign investors.