China has begun the process of dismantling debt-ridden “zombie” state-owned firms.
On Feb. 1, Economic Information Daily, an economic newspaper operated by the state-run media Xinhua, reported that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology; SASAC (State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission), the central authority that oversees state-owned firms); and several provincial governments—including Shaanxi, Henan, Hebei, and Heilongjiang—made plans to liquidate several big zombie businesses after the central government made an announcement on Dec. 4, 2018, ordering all such firms to be eliminated by 2020.
