China debt: battling zero-Covid and a property market slump, local governments ask Beijing to lift bond quota | South China Morning Post

Beijing has turned down requests from three local governments to lift their debt quotas, amid rising economic pressure and financial risk driven by a slump in the property sector and zero-Covid measures. The Ministry of Finance told deputies from the National People's Congress (NPC) in Hebei, Hainan and Liaoning that their current quotas were sufficient, and had taken into account respective economic conditions and development needs. In response to the request from Hebei, a province just north of the capital Beijing, the finance ministry said the general debt limit is determined by the deficit ratio and each region's limit was…