NEWSWORTHY
OECD secretary-general urges Japan to pull trigger on tax hike and pursue structural reforms
A top OECD official says the scheduled consumption tax hike to 10 percent this fall is “essential” to ensure Japan’s fiscal sustainability.
China's local government debt: The bomb that doesn't explode — but gets kicked down the road
China has embraced the idea of defaults imposing some discipline on debtors in its bond market. And some of the most troubled debtors are local governments' financing vehicles. So an LGFV default has long seemed on the cards. But it just isn't happening. Moody's Investors ...
Many residents in the hardest-hit prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima are struggling to repay emergency relief loans that they received in the wake of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, a Jiji Press survey of related municipalities showed. In the three prefectures, a total ...
SoftBank's giant debt burden looks worse than it actually is, analysts say
As SoftBank Group Corp. continues its transformation into a giant investment fund, some analysts are increasingly watching a metric more familiar to lenders as they judge its creditworthiness. And by that gauge, they say, its massive debt pile looks manageable. SoftBank's loan-to-value ratio, its net ...
Deep in the red: Chinese county pays price for vanity-project binge
In the heart of an impoverished village in southern China, a life-sized statue of Mao Zedong sits on a platform adorned with intricate stonework, flanked by a diorama of Red Army soldiers and traditional brick-and-tile homes with curved roofs. Officials have spent a small fortune ...
Fate of $1 trillion in risky U.S. loans may be in Japan's hands
Japanese banks might have snapped up a third of the loans made to highly indebted U.S. companies, propelling the size of the market past $1 trillion.
Japan's prime minister to formally announce sales tax hike to 10 percent from next October
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to formally announce that the government will raise the consumption tax to 10 percent from the current 8 percent in October 2019.
High debt limits China's range of weapons in defending against Trump's tariff blitz
Ten years ago, China shielded itself from the global financial crisis with a wall of stimulus. Facing U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff onslaught, that feat of self-preservation looks much harder to repeat. The simple reason is that even if President Xi Jinping's government were to ...
China's industrial output tops forecasts but investment growth sinks to new low
China reported better-than-expected industrial output and retail sales on Friday, but a key investment gauge fell to a fresh record low, highlighting the challenges facing Beijing as it tries to support the economy in the face of rising U.S. tariffs. The data, along with earlier ...
China's massive and expanding "Belt and Road" trade infrastructure project is running into speed bumps as some countries begin to grumble about being buried under Chinese debt. First announced in 2013 by President Xi Jinping, the initiative, also known as the "New Silk Road" envisions ...
China seen flexing loan muscle as it pushes further into Pacific
In the gritty, steamy streets of Papua New Guinea's capital Port Moresby, signs of China's push into the Pacific island nation are inescapable. A Chinese worker stencils a logo for China Railway Group outside the new national courthouse it's building; China Harbor Engineering Group laborers ...
As the government struggles to put together a credible road map to fiscal consolidation, the public should also grapple with the question of how the nation's fiscal health can be regained.
