China to become largest corporate debt market

China is projected to surpass the US as the world’s largest market for corporate debt, Financial Times reported, citing a Standard & Poor’s note. China is projected to have US$13.8 trillion in debt by the end of 2014, overtaking the US’s current debt holdings of US$13.7 billion. The rating agency reported that China’s corporations will have debt needs of more than US$18 trillion (RMB110 trillion) by the end of 2017. S&P said the majority of corporations taking on debt in China are state owned enterprises, which have low debt risks. The volume of corporate debt issuance is typically seen as a barometer of economic growth.