CRI听力:Expert on China's Mounting Corporate Debt

With corporate debt in China hitting record levels, it's being suggested credit repayment difficulties are likely to lead to a sharp increase in restructuring through mergers and acquisitions.

Through the course of last year, non-financial Chinese companies have held outstanding debt worth some $12-trillion US dollars, which is the the equivalent of 120 percent of this country's GDP.

The growth of Chinese corporate debt is said to be uNPRecedented among any industrialized economy.

A Reuters survey of 945 companies showed their total debt has surged by 260-percent between December 2008 and last September.

As such, many observers are expecting this year will see a growing number of companies selling their assets and entering into mergers into an attempt to try to avoid default.

For more on the situation we are joined by Gao Shang, analyst at Guantong Futures.