More than eight and a half million Chinese citizens are blacklisted by authorities because they defaulted on debts by missing payments on mortgages or loans, according to a report by the Financial Times, which cited local courts, saying the figure was a record high, up from 5.7 million citizens in early 2020 prior to the Covid pandemic and likely to make it hard to boost consumer confidence.
People who are blacklisted after defaulting on debts are blocked from buying plane tickets and making payments via mobile apps such as Alipay or WeChat Pay if they get sued by banks or creditors for missing a payment deadline, and can even be blocked from government jobs and using toll roads, it said, noting that household debt had doubled over the past decade to 64% of gross domestic product in September and many people were also struggling to find work. Legal experts have proposed introducing personal bankruptcy laws to supply debt relief for individuals but this has been stymied by a reluctance of state workers or other groups to disclose their assets because of fear it could disclose corruption.
Read the full report: The FT.
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