Finance & economics | Fiscal fiasco

Chinese authorities are now addicted to traffic fines

What that tells you about the country’s economic woes

No parking signs in the city centre, Gansu province, Linxia, China
Profitmaking opportunityPhotograph: Getty Images

Ma Yijiayi was locked up in November. She did not stand in a square demanding political rights. Nor did she steal from state coffers. Instead, her crime was to ask a deadbeat debtor to pay her back. The local government in Liupanshui, a city in the province of Guizhou, owes Ms Ma, who is a contractor, 220m yuan ($30m) for building schools. Officials had offered her a mere 12m yuan. She refused.

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This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Put the brakes on”

From the April 27th 2024 edition

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