China should come clean on local government debt, International Monetary Fund report says

Beijing’s accounts should encompass local authority financing vehicles, public-private partnerships, government guided funds, and any other items that are sources of implicit liability, Rui Mano and Phil Stokoe wrote in a working paper released on Friday.

“#China’s official government accounts do not capture a large amount of fiscal spending delivered through off-budget units,” the report said.

“Although progress has been made to legally separate off-budget units from the government, such units appear to not have been de facto separated from the government.”