South Korea’s external liabilities rose four consecutive quarters (Qs) to reach a record high level, but external debt structures improved as the nation’s long-term debt grew and short-term debt shrank, the central bank said.
As of the end of September, the nation held $419.4 billion in external debt, jumping $3.6 billion from the end of June to hit a fresh record high, according to a report by the Bank of Korea (BOK) Tuesday.
The country held $286.7 in long-term debt at the end of September, an $11.7 billion gain from the end of June with the nation’s short-term debt shrinking $8.1 billion to total $132.6 billion.
The ratio of short-term external debt to foreign reserves dropped 3.9 percentage points to 41.2 percent. This is a six-year low level since the end of March in 2006 when the figure marked 34.6 percent.
The ratio of short-term external debt to total external debt owed by the nation also went down 2.2 percentage points to 31.6 percent, dropping to a 13-year low figure since the end of December in 1999 when the figure was at 29.7 percent.
Korea’s outstanding external credit gained from $17.9 billion at the end of June to $526.6 billion as of the end of September. The nation’s net external credit outstanding, which is calculated by subtracting total external assets from external liability, jumped $14.3 billion to $107.2 billion.
[Written by Jong-heon Jeon - Jieun Lee / edited by Soyoung Chung]
[ⓒ Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]
