HONG KONG (Reuters) – Chinese state-media Global Times’ editor in chief said struggling Evergrande Group should use market means to save itself and should not bet on a government bailout as it deems itself “too big to fail”.
Hu Xijin said on his WeChat social media account on Thursday he did not think an Evergrande bankruptcy would trigger a systemic financial storm like Lehman Brothers, because it was a real estate business and the downpayment ratios in China were very high.
Global Times is a nationalistic tabloid published by the Communist Party’s People’s Daily. Its views do not necessarily reflect the official thinking of policymakers.
With total liabilities of more than $300 billion, Evergrande is scrambling to raise funds as it teeters between a messy meltdown with far-reaching impacts, a managed collapse or a government bailout.
(Reporting by Clare Jim; Editing by Stephen Coates)
