The Chinese government risks “real damage” to the economy if it does not hasten reform of state-owned enterprises and overhaul a debt-fuelled growth model, Hank Paulson has warned.
For more than two decades, the former US Treasury secretary and Goldman Sachs chief — a frequent visitor to Beijing — has worked closely with pivotal Chinese political figures such as Wang Qishan, currently head of the Chinese Communist party’s anti-graft bureau.
“Until the state-owned enterprises are put on a level and competitive playing field, it’s going to be difficult to have the marketplace work efficiently in some key sectors of the economy,” Mr Paulson told the Financial Times during a visit to the Chinese capital. “Reform of the SOEs has been moving too slowly.”