Published: 7:04am, 15 May, 2018 Updated: 5:48pm, 15 May, 2018
China is in more danger of a financial crisis than official data suggests, a senior government financial adviser, Xia Bin, has warned, adding that Beijing must do more to prevent a downturn in the economy. “Systemic risks are elusive and spread fast,” he said. An example of skewed figures is China’s official non-performing loan ratio, which he said bore little resemblance to the correct figure. Also lenders' exposure to the property market is much higher than reported, he said, with China's economy in effect being “hijacked” by the property sector, causing a major threat to financial stability.