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  • Chinese companies like borrowing money a lot.

  • And now, that may be getting them into trouble,

  • which could mean trouble for the rest of us too.

  • Chinese companies owe the biggest pile of corporate debt, in the world by far,

  • about 18 trillion US dollars, or a 170 percent of Gross Domestic Product.

  • In the first 3 months of 2017, companies defaulted on 9 of the bonds they have issued.

  • Not a big number, but a record for the first quarter.

  • The danger is, that the Beijing tries to pare back credit growth in the economy,

  • many companies will become unable to honour bond payments or repay bank loans.

  • This frailty is already causing ripples, in a skittish Hong Kong stock market.

  • Huishan Dairy, a Chinese company that was late on loan payments, have 4.1 billion US dollars

  • wiped of its market capitalization in March.

  • A debt crisis in China will certainly shake the global economy.

  • Chinese companies, which of financing themselves from precariously leveraged balance sheets,

  • are acquiring firms in Europe, the US, and elsewhere.

  • Will boom turn to bust in China?

  • Some Chinese companies are now defaulting on their bonds,

  • if the number continues to grow, it's time to worry.

Chinese companies like borrowing money a lot.

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