China's registered foreign debt stood at US$147.63 billion equivalent by the end of June, a drop of US$4.2 billion or 2.8 percent from at the end of last year, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said on August 15.
Administration statistics show that medium- and long-term debt accounted for 90.4 percent of the total to stand at US$133.41 billion, down by US$3.24 billion from at the end of last year.
The outstanding amount of short-term foreign debt was US$14.22 billion, down by US$960 million, and accounted for 9.6 percent of the total.
In the first six months of this year, China signed new foreign debt contracts of US$8.24 billion, used new debt totaling US$13.27 billion, and repaid principals of US$16.12 billion.
Compared with that at the end of last year, the outstanding amount of sovereignty debt remained almost the same to stand at US$47.36 billion; that owed by domestic financial institutions declined 7.4 percent to US$37.88 billion; that owed by foreign-invested enterprises dipped 1.9 percent to US$46.43 billion; that by domestic enterprises also remained roughly the same to stand at US$14.64 billion; and that by leasing companies and other institutions dropped 17.9 percent to US$1.33 billion.
(Xinhua)
