China’s central bank is striking out on its own with signals of tighter monetary policy, widening a divergence with other large economies that will shape global capital and trade flows next year.

With most of the world’s major nations still battling the pandemic and struggling to recover from deep recessions, China’s economy is on track to grow by about 2% this year and more than 8% in 2021.

That’s allowing People’s Bank of China Gov. Yi Gang to turn his attention to a record debt burden, an issue that’s come into sharp focus following a spate of corporate defaults in recent weeks.