Xi’s Consumer Boom Thwarted by Secret Trades, Debt Misuse
- Borrowers taking advantage of low rates on consumer loans
- People misuse the funds to prepay mortgages, buy stocks
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President Xi Jinping’s push for a consumer-led economic recovery has hit a new barrier: Chinese citizens misusing cheap consumer loans.
As banks flood the market with a variety of lending products after pressure from Beijing for them to pump up the world’s second largest economy with cheap loans, some borrowers are taking advantage of the low interest rates to prepay mortgages or invest in stocks instead of buying goods.