("One thing that Americans have to realize is that China may be a net lender internationally, but the Chinese government and state-owned enterprises borrow a huge amount of money domestically," Shih added.
("One thing that Americans have to realize is that China may be a net lender internationally, but the Chinese government and state-owned enterprises borrow a huge amount of money domestically," Shih added. "The racist caricature of those thrifty Chinese who take advantage of debt-loving Americans is widely off the mark because China is one of the most indebted countries in the world").
These are the markets where households, government and enterprise borrow.
Successive years of fiscal deficits, public enterprise borrowing and off-balance sheet spending, have also contributed to the onerous debt overhang in many of these countries.
The Triodos ethical bank closed its social enterprise fund last year, as not enough enterprises could borrow at anything approaching a commercial rate.
According to research by China's central bank cited by China Daily, a state-run, English language newspaper, 89% of Wenzhou's population and 57% of its enterprises have borrowed outside the banking system, paying interest rates of 10% for 30 days or 214% for a year.
The government tried to navigate a narrow line, aimed at allowing Fannie and Freddie, as government-sponsored enterprises, to borrow at low interest rates through implicit government backing, while publicly criticizing what the Treasury Department earlier this year called "the financial markets' misperception that G.S.E.'s are backed by the federal government".
On top of this, hundreds of local enterprises will "borrow Olympic equity" to upgrade perceptions of their own products via Olympic-themed events, sponsorships, and PR.
Debt-to-asset ratio is an index for measuring the debt level of an enterprise and the loan safety level of a creditor from whom the enterprise borrows.
Fannie was able to do this by exploiting its ability, as a government-sponsored enterprise, to borrow money at lower rates than its competitors.
