Since 2017, my country's macro leverage ratio has grown by about 4.8 percentage points annually, and the growth rate is generally stable. It is expected that the growth rate will remain basically stable in 2022.

On March 8, the People's Bank of China released relevant news that since 2021, my country's effective epidemic prevention and control, steady economic recovery, and effective macro policies have jointly pushed the macro leverage ratio back to a basically stable track. The strength and further strengthening of support for the real economy have created space.

　　Text, Biao/Guangzhou Daily All Media Reporter Lin Xiaoli

　　Macro leverage is the ratio of a country's total debt to gross domestic product (GDP).

Since 2017, the average annual growth of macro leverage ratio is about 4.8 percentage points, which is 8.6 percentage points lower than the average annual growth rate from 2012 to 2016.

From 2017 to 2019, my country's macro leverage ratio was generally stable at around 253%, and the goal of stabilizing leverage was initially achieved.

After the outbreak of the epidemic in 2020, the leverage ratio increased to 280.2% in stages.

Back to 272.5% in 2021.

　　Compared with major economies, the increase in my country's leverage ratio since the epidemic has been relatively controllable.

According to the latest data from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the leverage ratios of the United States (281.1%), Japan (416.8%), and the euro area (282.1%) at the end of the third quarter of 2021 were 26.0, 36.4, and 25.0 percentage points higher than those at the end of 2019, respectively.

During the same period, my country's leverage ratio was 19.1 percentage points (275.1%) higher than that at the end of 2019, and the growth rate was 6.9, 17.3 and 5.9 percentage points lower than that of the United States, Japan, and the euro area, respectively. The growth rate was relatively modest.

　　Specifically, my country's leverage structure continued to improve.

In recent years, while continuing to obtain financing support, the leverage ratio of the corporate sector has remained basically stable, and the leverage structure has continued to be optimized.

From 2017 to 2019, with the orderly advancement of the leverage stabilization policy, the leverage ratio of the corporate sector stabilized at around 152.2%.

After the outbreak, the leverage ratio of the corporate sector rose to 161.7% in stages, and returned to 153.7% in an orderly manner in 2021, returning to a basically stable track.

At the same time, the debt structure of the corporate sector has been continuously optimized. At the end of 2021, loans and bonds of the corporate sector accounted for 86.8% of the total debt of the corporate sector, 9.2 percentage points higher than that at the end of 2016.

In addition, off-balance sheet debt continued to decline, releasing potential risks in an orderly manner, creating room for new debt.

At the end of 2021, the ratio of off-balance sheet debt of enterprises (such as trust loans and entrusted loans) to GDP was 19.3 percentage points lower than in 2016.

　　In terms of leverage ratio of government departments, since the outbreak of the epidemic, the leverage ratio of government departments has increased rapidly, mainly due to more active and promising fiscal policies to hedge the negative impact of the epidemic.

In 2021, the leverage ratio of the government sector will be 46.6%, with a two-year average increase of 4.0 percentage points.

　　In recent years, the leverage ratio of my country's household sector has grown steadily.

The leverage ratio of my country's household sector has risen from 33.8% in 2012 to 72.2% in 2021, with an average annual growth rate of 4.3 percentage points in the past nine years, and the growth rate has not fluctuated over the years.