(Washington) The difficulties of the real estate sector in China, weighed down by the woes of the giant Evergrande, could pose risks for global growth and affect the United States, according to the financial stability report of the Fed released on Monday.
“Tensions in the Chinese real estate sector could put a strain on the Chinese financial system” and ultimately “pose risks to global economic growth and affect the United States”, underlines the American central bank (Fed) in this semi-annual report. -annual.
The giant Evergrande is strangled by an abysmal debt of 260 billion euros, which grips the entire real estate sector in China, because, faced with the risk of bankruptcy of several developers, buyers are wary and the prices of new housing are in fallback.
Another Chinese real estate developer, Kaisa, whose financial situation worries the markets, suspended its listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Friday.
The tensions could “spread to the Chinese financial system through spillover effects on financial companies, a sudden correction in house prices or a reduction in investor risk appetite,” the statement added. Fed.
The risk is then that it spreads to the entire world economy, “given the size of the Chinese economy and financial system as well as its extensive trade links with the rest of the world,” he said. specified in this report.
The conclusions of this report contrast with the remarks of the president of the Fed, Jerome Powell, who estimated on September 22 that the United States was “not really directly exposed” to the difficulties of Evergrande.
“The Evergrande situation seems very particular to China, which has a very high debt for an emerging market economy,” he said at a press conference.
He was however worried “that this could affect financial conditions in the world through the channels of confidence”.