Outside the Box: China’s slowing growth and massive debt threaten stock and bond investors worldwide

The uproar surrounding China’s beleaguered Evergrande Group, the world’s most indebted property concern, are distracting from China’s broader debt problem and slowing economic growth.

China’s overall debt was 270% of its GDP at the end of 2020, up from 247% a year earlier. Foreign debt reached US$2.4 trillion in 2020. Since 2008, Chinese borrowing, mainly by businesses and households, has risen by almost 100% of GDP and accounts for two-thirds of the global debt increase. Evergrande’s outstanding debt of more than $300 billion…