As China Evergrande’s Debt Crisis Deepens, Unpaid Small Business Owners Speak of Despair

As China Evergrande’s Debt Crisis Deepens, Unpaid Small Business Owners Speak of Despair
People gather to demand repayment of loans and financial products as security personnel guard outside Evergrande's headquarters in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China, on September 15, 2021. David Kirton/Reuters
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SHENZHEN, China—Wu Lei says his small construction company in central China has accepted commercial paper from property developer Evergrande as payment for two years but with that paper’s value now in doubt, his firm is on the verge of collapse.

China Evergrande Group, saddled with more than $300 billion in total liabilities equivalent to 2 percent of China’s GDP, is in the throes of a liquidity crisis that has it scrambling to raise funds to pay its many lenders and suppliers.