The Ministry of Finance has started a credit rating campaign, state media reported. The campaign, launched by the China Shippers Association will target foreign-trade companies. The lack of a credit rating system is costing companies a lot of money, with the proportion of retrievable debts to bad debts around 30% for some of them, far higher than the average 0.25% to 0.5% in western companies. The National Development and Reform Commission said developing an international-level "credit rating" system is an urgent priority. The ministry said companies involved in foreign trading must submit their credit records to the Beijing International Business and Credit Assessment Company (IBD-Credit) for preliminary evaluation.
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