China Evergrande Group made an overdue interest payment to international bondholders, the state-owned Securities Times reported on 22 October, an unexpected move that allows the property company to stave off a default.

The Chinese real-estate developer on 21 October sent $83.5m to the trustee for the dollar bonds, and that financial institution will in turn pay bondholders, the Securities Times reported. The financial paper is run by the Communist Party’s flagship People’s Daily newspaper.