UK local government thinks it has got it bad, huh? Well, try making sense of China's local government debt mountain. After the 2008 financial crash threatened China's economic miracle, local areas were allowed to borrow eye-watering sums. When Covid-19 then decimated economic activity, China allowed local government to artificially boost revenues by selling development land to itself (via locally owned investment vehicles). To the tune of £261bn last year alone. But a recent report by the Chinese Academy of Fiscal Sciences warned some investment deals ‘might be fake' – suggesting China's debt problem is even more dire. And that's amid spiralling interest payments. ‘Local governments have run out of options to have a balanced budget,' warned analyst Bo Zhuang from asset manager Loomis Sayles. At least UK councils still have options – even though many are not very palatable.