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Debt servicing is another potential source of vulnerability. LGFVs will need some combination of cash or financing to repay maturing debt. If refinancing, LGFVs could, depending on market conditions, have to pay higher interest rates. Over 50 percent of subnational government debt was expected to mature by the end of 2012 based on  NAO 2011 (China’s National Audit Office). However, most infrastructure projects were not expected to generate significant cash flow for 10 years or even longer. Land sales, operating profits (such as highway fees), local fiscal revenues, or inter-governmental transfers could help repay part of the maturing debt. However, it is likely that a majority of the maturing debt was either rolled over or repaid by new borrowing. The recent update from NAO (2013) confirms that much of this debt was serviced with new borrowing (gross issuance was much higher than the increase in the stock of debt). Specifically, gross debt issuance was equivalent to more than 50 percent of 2010 local government debt stock in the past two years, but the net debt stock increased only by 13 percent. According to NAO (2013), about 40 percent of 2010 debt stock was either repaid or reclassified as private debt. It is not clear how much LGFV borrowing contributed to debt repayment, but given tightened credit restrictions on new LGFV loans in 2011–12, a fairly big share of LGFV borrowing likely went to servicing maturing debt.

IMF Working Paper Fiscal Affairs Department and Asia and Pacific Department Fiscal Vulnerabilities and Risks from Local Government Finance in China Prepared by Yuanyan Sophia Zhang and Steven Barnett Authorized for distribution by Steven Barnett and Martine Guerguil January 2014

A senior Chinese auditor has warned that local government debt is “out of control” and could spark a bigger financial crisis than the US housing market crash. Zhang Ke said his accounting firm, ShineWing, had all but stopped signing off on bond sales by local governments as a result “We audited some local government bond issues and found them very dangerous, so we pulled out,” said Mr Zhang, who is also vice-chairman of China’s accounting association. “Most don’t have strong debt servicing abilities. Things could become very serious.”

The International Monetary Fund, rating agencies and investment banks have all raised concerns about Chinese government debt. But it is rare for a figure as established in the Chinese financial industry as Mr Zhang to issue such a stark warning. “It is already out of control,” Mr Zhang said. “A crisis is possible. But since the debt is being rolled over and is long-term, the timing of its explosion is uncertain.”

Mr Zhang said many local governments had invested in projects from public squares to road repairs that were generating lacklustre returns, and so were relying on financing rollovers to pay back their creditors. “The only thing you can do is issue new debt to repay the old,” he said. “But there will be some day down the line when this can’t go on.”

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On his way to the Theatre of Pompey, where he would be assassinated, Caesar passed the seer and joked, "The ides of March have come," meaning to say that the prophecy had not been fulfilled, to which the seer replied "Aye, Caesar; but not gone." (Wikipedia)