Thinking About China
Opinion

How Big Is China’s Real Overall Government Debt?

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How Big Is China’s Real Overall Government Debt?
Paramilitary policemen patrol in front of the People's Bank of China, the central bank of China, in Beijing in a file photo. Greg Baker /AFP/Getty Images
Wang He
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Commentary

Beijing has long maintained that government debt risks are overall safe and controllable. According to the official data disclosed by China’s Ministry of Finance, China’s government debt balance stood at about 96.05 trillion yuan (about $14 trillion) at the end of 2025, including roughly 41.23 trillion yuan ($6 trillion) in central government debt and 54.82 trillion yuan ($8 trillion) in local government debt.

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Wang He
Wang He
Author
Wang He has master’s degrees in law and history, and has studied the international communist movement. He was a university lecturer and an executive of a large private firm in China. Wang now lives in North America and has published commentaries on China’s current affairs and politics since 2017.