The author has been described by News Ltd as an "iconoclast", "Svengali", a pollie's "economist muse", and "pungently accurate". Fairfax says he is a "Renaissance man" and "one of Australia’s most respected analysts." Stephen Koukoulas concludes that he is "85% right", and "would make a great Opposition leader." Terry McCrann claims the author thinks "‘nuance’ is a trendy village in the south of France", but can be "scintillating" when he thinks "clearly". The ACTU reckons he’s "an enigma wrapped in a Bloomberg terminal, wrapped in some apparently well-honed abs."

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Treasury: Chinese government debt now 60-70% of GDP

From a Treasury paper released yesterday:

"While the Central Government can monitor most large debts by its agencies, some debts are harder to keep under surveillance. Major categories of government debt that can be monitored through government sources or bond markets include Central Government debt (17 per cent of GDP), local government financing vehicle debt (19 per cent of GDP), policy bank debt (13 per cent of GDP), and the Ministry of Railways debt (1.3 per cent of GDP). These debts sum to about 50 per cent of GDP. While other smaller debts are expected to exist within the Chinese Government hierarchy, it is difficult to determine their size. That said, these debts are not believed to be large, and overall total government debt is estimated to be in the range of 60‐70 per cent of GDP."
at 1:23 PM