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Be alert on high personal debt
2006-06-09
China Daily
Decision-makers must take action over the alarmingly high levels of debt among average city dwellers, says a signed article in Xiaoxiang Morning News. An excerpt follows:
Average homeowners have to hand over 35 per cent of their monthly incomes to banks in mortgage repayments, while a further 3 per cent is shelled out to cover other debts.
This is according to figures from a survey conducted by the People's Bank of China, the nation's central bank, in 10 cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin.
While attracting talents, capital and businesses allows cities to accelerate the pace of their development, most residents do not benefit much from this.
Many urban dwellers are facing heavy pressures such as rocketing housing prices and a rising cost of living. Spending more than one-third of their income on housing, their sense of security has been worn thin in these vibrant cities.
If the central bank conducted further surveys about urban dwellers' spending on education and healthcare, it would find that these deliver no more optimistic results.
People have dubbed housing, education and healthcare as three "heavy loads" in their lives. Any of them could break the economic balance of an individual or even his entire family if not well handled or some unforeseen circumstances crop up.
Planning used to be the way we tried to manage the economy, but this proved inefficient in practice.
But there is another misunderstanding currently dogging our economic governance. Decision-makers in many sectors think the market can run by itself and resolve all problems automatically, meaning that they do not attempt to regulate in any sense.
As a result, millions of people can no longer afford housing in many cities.
The results of the central bank's survey should spur the authorities to take action.
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