China’s foreign debt is rising too fast,...

China’s foreign debt is rising too fast, with too many borrowers and managers, and the money is not being put to best use, Chinese experts told China’s official Financial Times newspaper. The unnamed experts were quoted as saying China urgently needs a single institution to monitor foreign debt strictly.

“In the last two years, the increase in debt has been very fast. . . . Very many units borrow money, management is scattered. . . . The country should have a medium- and long-term debt strategy for each industry, to make better use of foreign capital,” the experts said.

The last official figure for foreign debt was given in August, when China said it had from 1979 to end-of-1986 signed foreign loans worth $28.9 billion, of which $20.7 billion had been used.