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China's external debt falls 10% in Q1

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-07-01 21:41

BEIJING: China's outstanding external debt reached US$336.72 billion by the end of March, down 10.13 percent from the end of last year, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said Wednesday.

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Long and medium-term external debt, which accounted for 48.48 percent of the total, stood at US$163.25 billion, down 0.38 percent, or US$623 million.

Short-term external debt fell 17.7 percent, or US$37.32 billion from the end of last year to US$173.47 billion.

The newly-added mid-and-long-term debts declined by 50.90 percent year on year, or US$3.94 billion, to US$3.80 billion in the three-month period.

The nation repaid principals for long and medium-term debt of US$6.65 billion, up 44.77 percent and interests US$805 million, down 27.22 percent, the SAFE said.