Reports on China’s Bad Lending Data Disappear on Social Media

  • Total credit demand fell in April for first time since 2005
  • China has increasingly hidden negative data in recent years

Pudong's Lujiazui Financial District in Shanghai.

Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

A series of research reports from Chinese brokerages on the country’s recent bad credit data disappeared from social media over the weekend, highlighting the increasing difficulty of getting reliable information about the world’s second-largest economy.

At least seven research reports from mainland brokerages and securities firms that had been posted to WeChat by analysts were unavailable for viewing on Monday. The link to six of the reports now leads to an error message saying the content couldn’t be viewed after complaints about unspecified violations of rules governing public accounts.