China's interim short-term external debt growth down 8 percent

China's short-term external debt growth rate was 8.23 percentage points lower in the first six months of the year than for the equivalent period in 2005, official figures show.

China's first-half short-term external debt, which reached 166.3 billion U.S. dollars - up 6.5 percent from the end of 2005, now accounts for 55.81 percent of the country's total 297.9-billion-U.S.-dollar external debt, according to the latest figures released by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE).

Short-term external debt made up 55.94 percent of the total in the first quarter this year. It is the first time the quarterly figure has declined after rising consecutively since 2001, said the SAFE.

External debt is the part of a country's debt owed to creditors outside the country. This includes debt owed to private commercial banks, government or international financial institutions.

SAFE said the rapid growth of short-term external debt is mainly driven by continuous expansion of trade volume, enhancement of overseas financing efforts by foreign banks and the willingness of foreign companies to provide credit in a context where the Chinese currency is appreciating.

Analysts say the rapid growth of short-term external debt reflects fast, high-volume cross-border capital flows which are more risky.

However, optimists argue that China's ratio of foreign exchange reserves to short-term external debt is 5.66, five times the international safety standard.

Official figures show external borrowings by foreign real estate enterprises doubled to 1.74 billion U.S. dollars in the first half, accounting for 92 percent of total real estate sector external debt.

Source: Xinhua