China’s economy is becoming more vulnerable as its financial sector becomes more complex and leveraged, an occasional paper published by the European Central Bank argues.

In The transition of China to sustainable growth – implications for the global economy and the euro area, Alistair Dieppe, Robert Gilhooly, Jenny Han, Iikka Korhonen and David Lodge argue that these developments have amplified “the risks associated with fast-rising indebtedness”.

Banks remain China’s primary source of credit