100 RMB

The largest bank note in circulation in China is worth less than $20.

No fifties and no hundreds in a country that runs on cash.

The government, although it is denying it, is printing money hand over fist to give to the banks, in order to keep the system liquid with business loans.

I suspect the banks have a lot of underperforming loans which just get rescheduled to eternity.

I was told yesterday that the plausibly undeniable printing of cash has led to inflation, which is strongly denied.

Printing 500 or 1000 RMB notes would be akin to acknowledging inflation.

But you can’t fool the people; just look at the price of chickens they say.

The wealthy are simply placing family members in Australia (and similar) under the cover of studentship, and funneling their cash out and south. This is a wedge against a meltdown in the Chinese economy.

Will it meltdown? Nobody knows but the policy makers are leading the charge in exporting their wealth so you would have to give it some finite probability.