China’s credit push to small firms falters

Credit cut: Luo says some banks are no longer keen to do business with trading companies. — Reuters

CHINA’S campaign to boost loans to small firms was supposed to support the economy during its biggest slowdown in decades, but banks’ reluctance to lend has left exporters and manufacturers in its southern industrial belt struggling to pay the bills.

Despite prodding from Beijing, several bankers have told Reuters they have little appetite to lend to smaller companies due to the uncertain economic outlook, the US-China trade war and a years-long drive to purge risks from the financial system.