Official: Financial risk control top priority

Maintaining financial stability has never left Chinese macroeconomic officials' agenda and "grey rhino" style financial risks are rising in some areas, including local government debt, bond markets and overpriced housing, a senior official warned on Thursday.

Usually, financial risks that are broadly known but easily ignored are called "grey rhinos". When the risks emerge in one particular sector, the whole financial system will be shaken in the short term.

The deleveraging process will continue this year, especially in some key areas, or "structural deleveraging", as financial risk remains a threat to stable economic growth, according to Wang Jingwu, head of the financial stability bureau of the People's Bank of China, the central bank.