中国的民营企业像地沟油一样可怕?

China's private businessmen are always bemoaning the fact that in the eyes of the state- run banking sector, they are chopped liver.

中国民营企业家经常抱怨，在国有银行眼里，他们就像是杂碎。

These days, with the economy showing more than a few signs of stress, maybe they're more like gutter oil, the much reviled second-hand cooking oil recovered from gutters and waste bins: Something that should be avoided at all costs if you care about your health.

现在随着经济显现出不少困难迹象，或许他们更像是地沟油。地沟油是从下水道和垃圾桶里面回收的二手食用油，人见人恨，如果你关心自己的健康，那应该是避之惟恐不及的。

Some 600 private enterprises, feeling the financial pinch amid a global economic slowdown, have petitioned the government in east China's Zhejiang province for help - saying that their bankers have been calling in loans and refusing to extend fresh credit, according to local media. They are pushing for three years of no cutbacks in lending.

据中国媒体报道，约600名在全球经济减速之际遇到财务困难的民营企业家已上书浙江省政府求援，说银行催促还款并拒绝发放新贷款。他们希望三年内不要降低贷款额度。

They are not the only ones who see official neglect - if not outright disdain - from the banking system for smaller firms.

见识到银行系统对中小企业视而不见（如果不是公然藐视的话）的不只是他们。

'Smaller companies are just not getting loans,' said Liu Kegu, a researcher who as a former vice president of the state-run China Development Bank should know. These commercial minnows are often seen as a greater risk than state firms or too small to merit a bank's attention.

研究人员刘克崮说，中小企业就是拿不到贷款。作为前国家开发银行(China Development Bank)副行长，他应该是深有体会。银行常常觉得这些中小企业的风险高于国有企业，或觉得它们的规模太小，不值得银行去关注。

A recent research report by Standard Chartered Bank highlights the problems of the smaller private businesses. The report, authored by bank economist Stephen Green, quoted an unidentified Chinese banker describing the laborious process involved in making a loan to SMEs - or small- and medium-sized enterprises which are often privately owned. It also highlights how little trust there is for these companies.

渣打银行(Standard Chartered Bank)前不久的一篇研究报告强调了小型民营企业面临的这些问题。这份由渣打银行经济学家王志浩(Stephen Green)撰写的报告引述一位没有透露身份的中国银行家的话，描给了给中小企业（通常也是民营企业）发放贷款需要经历的繁琐流程。报告还强调银行对这些企业缺乏信心。

'Ok, so you know the SME has given you fake financials - that is usual for an SME. On our side, we need the financials to meet a number of internal hurdles too, so we go along with the financials if we think the firm is fundamentally sound. Once we have met the requirements there, we can do our own 'real' assessment. We look at the SME's utility bills and tax payments, and talk to its clients until we think we have a pretty good understanding of the borrower.'

报告中的这位银行家说：反正你知道了，这家中小企业提供的是虚假财务报表──对于中小企业来说这是家常便饭。在我们这边，我们也需要拿财报来满足一些内部要求，所以如果我们觉得这家公司基本面稳固，那么我们就接受它的财报。一旦满足内部要求，我们就可以做我们自己的“真实”评估。我们看这家企业的水电账单和纳税记录，找它的客户了解情况，直到我们认为对这家借款人有了比较充分的了解。

The banker then goes on to say:

这位银行家接着说：

'If we are OK, we will pass the local application to our credit people. The credit people then of course discount the sales and profit numbers by up to 60%, since they believe that most SMEs inflate their financials by such an amount.'

我们如果觉得可以，就会把申请转给信用评估人员。然后，信用评估人员当然要把销售额和利润打个折，最高六折，因为他们相信多数中小企业都会以这么大的幅度虚报财务数字。

At the end of the banker's sad tale, the SME doesn't get the loan. Chopped liver or gutter oil - it's a toss up.

这个悲伤故事的结局，是那家中小企业没有申请到贷款。杂碎？地沟油？或许都有可能。

Chinese officials have been talking up the need to get credits to these smaller companies but this is hard to do even when times aren't so tough. The state-run banks tend to look first to the state sector while other potential borrowers go to the back of the queue.

中国官员一直在强调为这些中小企业提供贷款的必要性，然而即使是在形势没有现在这样恶劣的时候，这也是一件难办的事情。国有银行往往先了解国有企业的情况，其他潜在借款人则不得不排到队尾。

From the bank's point of view there are plenty of loans to small, private companies that are already at risk as China's economic growth slows. So far the national figures for the banking system have not shown any alarming trends in the bad debt department. Non-performing loans were a measly - and one might say suspicious-looking - 0.9% at the end of the second quarter, unchanged from the end of the first quarter, according to the China Banking Regulatory Commission. But regional and local figures are moving higher, particularly in places like Zhejiang, a hub of export-oriented private enterprise that is highly sensitive to fluctuations in the global economy.

从银行的角度来看，随着中国经济减速，已经有很多贷给小型民营企业的款项面临着风险。到目前为止，银行系统的全国性数据还没有显示出不良贷款方面出现值得警惕的趋势。据中国银行业监督管理委员会的数据，第二季度末不良贷款率才0.9%，显得微不足道（也可以说是让人生疑）。但区域数据和地方数据正在走高，特别是在浙江等地。浙江集中了一批出口型民营企业，它们对全球经济的波动十分敏感。

The state-run China Construction Bank, reporting its first-half results, said its bad loans actually dropped to 1% as of June from 1.09% at the end of last year. More tellingly the bank, China's second-largest by assets, showed a 33% increase in loans that had interest payments that were more than three months late. That points to problems ahead.

中国第二大银行（按资产规模计）中国建设银行(China Construction Bank)在报告上半年业绩时说，6月份不良贷款率实际上已从去年年底的1.09%下降到1%。更能说明问题的是，建行付息逾期三个月以上的贷款增加了33%，预示着将来会有问题出现。

Chen Zuofu, a vice president at China Construction Bank, warned this week that the bank's non-performing loans rose rapidly in the Yangtze River Delta in the first half of this year, adding that in some parts of Zhejiang, the bank's non-performing loan ratio topped 2%, hardly a critical level but perhaps a sign of more problems to come.

中国建设银行副行长陈佐夫本周期警告说，今年上半年建行在长江三角洲地区的不良贷款率迅速上升，在浙江某些地区的不良贷款率超过了2%。这一水平说不上危险，但可能预示着将来会有更多问题出现。

China Citic Bank, the nation's seventh-largest lender by assets, also pointed an accusing finger at the same general region, saying that many of its bad loans were also from that area.

资产规模全国第七的中信银行也怪罪于长三角。该行表示它的很多不良贷款也是来自这个地区。

We're likely to see more finger pointing if the economy weakens further. This could make it even tougher for smaller companies to avoid being given the gutter oil treatment.

如果经济进一步走软，银行可能还会更多地把责任推给中小企业，而中小企业要避免受到地沟油式的待遇，可能就会更加困难。