Fitch ratings downgrades China’s Yuan sovereign credit rating
2013-04-10 17:49:22
Some analysts have raised concerns over China's debt levels since 2009, when state-owned banks gave out a massive amount of loans to boost growth.
Fitch downgraded China's long-term local currency rating from AA- to A+, the first major international agency to cut China's sovereign credit rating since 1999.
It said total credit in China may have reached 198% of GDP at the end of 2012, up from 125% in 2008.
That includes a contribution from what is known as shadow banking, lending by non-bank institutions or bank credit that is kept off the books.
“The proliferation of other forms of credit beyond bank lending is a source of growing risk from a financial-stability perspective,” Fitch Ratings said.