Wuhan Publicly Names Hundreds of Debtors Amid Financial Woes
- Wuhan listed $42.4 million outstanding payments from 2018
- Local governments are facing a nationwide debt problem
Wuhan, a city in central China, publicly named hundreds of debtors in a local newspaper article demanding payment, a rare move underscoring the fiscal problems facing provincial governments.
The city’s local finance bureau printed a list of 259 entities with outstanding payments dating back to December 2018 in the Yangtze River Daily — the official mouthpiece of the Wuhan government — on Friday. The debts listed totaled more than 300 million yuan ($42.4 million). While the Wuhan municipal government’s revenue hit 50.77 billion yuan in the first quarter of the year, that marked a 8.5% decline on the same period last year.