A Country Garden $15 million coupon payment deadline has expired without word of payment, fuelling expectations that China's biggest private property developer has defaulted on its offshore debt as the nation's real estate woes deepen, Reuters reported. Non-payment would trigger cross defaults in other Country Garden bonds as is standard in bond contracts. The company has almost $11 billion of offshore bonds and a default would set the stage for one of China's biggest corporate debt restructurings.

China’s economy showed signs of emerging from a soft patch in the third quarter, as retail sales got a lift from government stimulus and factory activity stabilized after months of weakness, the Wall Street Journal reported. Growth came in at 4.9%, faster than expected by economists though still a decline on a year-on-year basis from the previous quarter. Growth accelerated on quarter-on-quarter terms, which strips out distortions caused by China’s unlocking from Covid lockdowns in 2022. The economy’s performance holds off for now broad fears about a more serious economic crunch.

Country Garden's entire offshore debt will be deemed to be in default if China's largest private property developer fails to make a $15 million coupon payment on Tuesday, the end of a 30-day grace period, Reuters reported. Non-payment of this tranche is set to trigger cross defaults in other bonds as is standard in bond contracts. With nearly $11 billion of offshore bonds and $6 billion of offshore loans, a default by Country Garden would set the stage for one of China's biggest corporate debt restructurings, as the country's property sector crisis deepens and drags on economic growth.

China has told state-owned banks to roll over existing local government debt with longer-term loans at lower interest rates, two sources with knowledge of the matter said, as part of Beijing's efforts to reduce debt risks in a faltering economy, Reuters reported. Debt-laden municipalities represent a major risk to the world's second-largest economy and its financial stability, economists say, amid a deepening property crisis, years of over-investment in infrastructure and huge bills to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, founded the Belt and Road Initiative a decade ago to use the country’s economic might to enlarge its geopolitical heft and counter the influence of the United States and other industrialized democracies. China has since disbursed close to $1 trillion to mostly developing countries, largely in loans, to build power plants, roads, airports, telecommunications networks and other infrastructure, the New York Times reported. Mr.

China is tightening curbs on short-selling activities as authorities step up efforts to shore up a struggling stock market, Bloomberg News reported. The Securities Regulatory Commission said with effect from Oct. 30, hedge funds wishing to short sell a stock must hold 100% of the value of the transaction in their account while other investors need to have at least 80%. Other rules that came into force Monday restrict lending of shares by strategic investors and senior management and increase the supervision of “various arbitrage activities,” it added in a statement on Saturday.

China's central bank ramped up liquidity support to the banking system as it rolled over medium-term policy loans on Monday, but kept the interest rate unchanged amid concerns about the risk of more sharp yuan declines, Reuters reported. The People's Bank of China (PBOC) is walking a tightrope between keeping liquidity ample to aid a struggling economy and stabilising the yuan amid expectations of "higher for longer" U.S. rates.

Hui Ka Yan, once one of the world’s richest men, led China Evergrande through its rise and fall. His failures in the aftermath made the property developer’s collapse a bigger problem for the country’s slumping housing market. In 2021, when Evergrande slid into financial distress, the real estate giant turned to government officials for help resolving a mountain of debt that it couldn’t repay. Chinese authorities and regulators agreed to help defuse the developer’s risks—with conditions.

China’s local authorities are finding it more expensive to sell bonds, the latest sign of rising stress as policymakers ramp up borrowings to stimulate growth and defuse short-term payment risks, Bloomberg News reported. Of the local government yuan bonds sold so far this year, 50 carry coupons with a premium of more than 25 basis points with comparable sovereign debt, according to Bloomberg-compiled data. That’s the most since 2020.

Kenya’s President William Ruto sought $1 billion more in loans from China Monday, despite rising public debt that has now reached $70 billion in the Eastern African country, according to National Treasury figures for 2022/2023, the Associated Press reported. President Ruto was was one of a number of global leaders in Beijing to attend the tenth anniversary meeting of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, the ambitious plan that aims to connect Africa, Asia and Europe through massive infrastructure and energy projects.