China Economic ReviewThe consumer price index, China’s benchmark of inflation, fell by 1.3 per cent yearon- year in April, the sharpest monthly fall in more than two years. This followed a decline of 0.8 per cent in March. Prices of consumer goods fell by 2.1 per cent, while those of services rose by 1.7 per cent. The […]
Although this passage is not easy to interpret, it seems to indicate a change in central bank policy during calendar 2000, authorising local postal savings stations to make loans to community enterprises. In a Chinese context, the reference to ‘improving relations’ with local officials points to very strong bureaucratic hostility to the postal savings system, […]
According to a recent report on China- Online.com, rural China is now facing a severe credit squeeze as the RCCs seek to clean up their books at the same time as the big four banks close branches in the countryside and the postal savings system (which traditionally does not make loans) takes a larger share […]
In recent years, the market share of RCCs been eroded by an even more obscure competitor, the state-run postal savings system. China’s post office maintains a network of more than 31,000 deposit-collection points, with roughly two-thirds in rural areas. Until now, the postal savings system been largely passive: post offices in rural China accept deposits […]
Postal savings accounts are increasingly popular, but the prospect of post offices being able to offer loans to rural enterprises threatens to undermine one of the few solvent branches of China’s financial system. By now, China watchers are well aware of the bad debt problems plaguing the country’s large stateowned banks, but other areas of […]