April 03, 2019:

Local Govts in China are 'being forced to rely on new loans to repay debt and fund ongoing construction projects with authorities struggling to honor their existing financing', says reports.

China's Ministry of Finance has officially recognised $2.74 trillion as the debt owed by local govts as of end-2018. This amounts to about 20% of China's GDP, but analysts say the actual debt numbers might be way higher.

The officially-recognized debt, according to analysts, only includes the bonds issued by local govts with Beijing's approval, while the real borrowing is done using local govt financing vehicles (LGFVs).

If the 'implicit debt liabilities' were considered, the report quoted one analyst as saying, 'the true govt debt level in China may have reached 92% of GDP in 2017' .

'The fiscal system is apparently in need of reform in the future. The inappropriate fiscal decentralization has led to severe vertical imbalance in terms of govt revenues, expenditures and debt,' Yin Jianfeng, chief economist of China Zheshang Bank, was quoted as saying.

British PM reaches out to rival Jeremy Corbyn for Brexit solution

British Prime Minister Theresa May announced Tuesday that she would be seeking a longer Brexit extension from the European Union (EU), days after the deadline was deferred from 29 March to 12 April.

May's Brexit deal has been rejected by the British parliament on three occasions. According to a report in the BBC, struggling to find a consensus course to Britain's scheduled departure from the EU, May has reached out to her Labour rival Jeremy Corbyn for help. The idea, however, has been scorned by Tory Brexiteers such as former UK foreign secretary Boris Johnson, the report added.

Meanwhile, the EU is planning to impose strict conditions to allow May a longer Brexit deadline: Among other things, the EU is likely to demand that Britain participate in the upcoming European Parliament elections, a prospect May is eager to avoid.

Asia's emerging markets set to witness slowest growth since 2001, says ADB

Asia's emerging markets are set to record the slowest growth of the past 18 years, 5.7%, in 2019, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

According to a report in Nikkei Asian Review, Asian growth numbers were last seen so low in 2001, when the countries grew at 4.9%.

Among the factors responsible, the bank cited the uncertainty triggered by the China-US trade war.

'The bank warned that risks to the region's outlook remain tilted to the downside, primarily because of the trade war,' the report added.

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