Progress in recovery of bad debts

China's four asset management companies cleared Yn132.7bn in bad assets in 2002, Yn10.6bn more than in 2001, according to statistics compiled by the People's Bank of China and quoted by Business Weekly. The firms were set up by the government in 1999 to take over nearly Yn1,400bn in bad loans from the big four state-owned banks. By the end of 2002, they had retrieved 22.4 per cent of the assets' face value. However, this was lower than the 22.6 per cent recovery rate achieved at the end of September 2002, and well below the 30 per cent minimum requirement set by the government.