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Coronavirus: China’s credit push struggles as banks weigh risks of lending to cash-strapped small businesses
These are anxious times for Bob Cai, who operates a small travel company specialising in personalised tour packages from his home in China’s Yangtze River Delta. Heavily indebted after expanding his business to capture a slice of China’s middle class tourism boom in recent years, his company is now facing ruin after the coronavirus pandemic ground international travel to a halt. Cai desperately needs more credit to keep his company afloat, but he must repay the outstanding 2 million yuan (US$283,000) balance on an existing loan by July before his bank will even consider lending to him again. “As soon as I think ... (full story)