OBELA Analysis

Evergrande's bankruptcy seems to be the most covered topic by the specialized press nowadays, they even foresee an economic crisis in China. The actual situation of the conglomerate does not mean a world crisis, although perhaps a problem for the Asian country.

China was the only large country to grow in 2020 and the first to control the COVID-19 pandemic. Its investment in fixed assets is one of the main drivers of growth. The gross value of the construction sector had a 19% growth in the second quarter of 2021, compared to 2020.

The Chinese outlook is not encouraging, but it is not catastrophic as posited. The Chinese government and press seem more concerned about international trade and energy supply than about the construction and banking sectors. The real estate bankruptcy may present a problem for the domestic market in the short term due to job losses, but experience shows that the government will not let it drift.

The Chinese conglomerate Envergando, and two large Chinese real estate companies (Fantasia and Sinic Hildings) stopped paying interest on their debt. This situation was interpreted as the possible start of a chain of international default and the trigger for a new financial crisis, which was false.

The decision of the last FOMC meeting of the FED was not to raise the Federal Funds rate and to maintain it in the range of 0 to 0.25%, which in real terms is -5.05%, and a forthcoming reduction in the pace of financial asset purchases to raise the long-term interest rate.

The U.S. government's financial situation raises more alarms than the bankruptcy of any real estate conglomerate. In the second quarter of 2020, the public debt/GDP ratio reached a record high, hence the Executive seeks to increase the public debt limit in the U.S. Congress.

Evergrande is a conglomerate that managed to become the largest real estate developer in China, driven by the accelerated population growth of China's cities. It now has a debt equivalent to 2% of China's GDP, around 2 trillion yuan or USD 309 billion.

Like the entire real estate sector, Evergrande used to take loans with land as collateral. This type of cycle stops when property prices stagnate or when the government regulates prepayment, as happened in China.

Recently it has been warned that it could be a trigger for a possible international financial collapse and has been compared to Lehman Brothers (2008). However, the situation is different: the bulk of the debt is within the Chinese financial system, which is closed to international investment, and only 26% of the total debt is owed to international investors.