China’s ability to repay its government borrowing has been downgraded by the credit rating agency Moody’s, which said the ripple effects from a crisis in the property sector would undermine efforts to revive its flagging economy.

Moody’s warned that Beijing would need to bail out local and regional governments and state-owned enterprises that were struggling with rising debts, hampering efforts to boost investment and growth.

The rating agency downgraded its outlook for Chinese sovereign bonds from stable to negative on Tuesday, sending a signal to potential lenders that the risk of a default by Beijing has increased over the past year.

The world’s second-biggest economy had been slowing before a 2020 crackdown on excessive borrowing that followed a series of debt defaults by dozens of property developers.

State enterprises that need loans to fund expansion have struggled to access credit from lenders affected by growing property defaults.

China’s bounce back from the Covid-19 pandemic has faltered this year after an initial burst of activity – in part from bumper exports of coal to replace banned Russian gas – faded faster than expected.

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