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China’s crazy reverse-credit cards
In the People’s Republic, you “pay now, buy later”.
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A report in 2024 calculated that over 1.5 billion pre-paid cards were issued in 2023, worth almost 740 billion yuan.
PHOTO: AFP
The Economist
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To help its economy weather the trade war, China wants its consumers to splash out. The government has plans to subsidise consumer loans, and banks have been permitted to raise borrowing limits for credit-worthy customers.
But the question of who lends to whom on China’s high street is not straightforward. In the West, retailers extend credit to their customers. In China, it is often the other way round.
