External debts 2017

At at the end of 2017, China's outstanding external debt (excluding those of Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, and Taiwan province, the same below) reached USD 1.71 trillion.

With respect to the term structure, the outstanding medium- and long-term external debt totaled USD 611.6 billion, accounting for 36 percent while the outstanding short-term external debt totaled USD 1.10 trillion, accounting for 64 percent.

In terms of debtors, the outstanding government debt totaled USD 168.7 billion in a broad sense, accounting for 10 percent; the outstanding debt of the central bank totaled USD 23.4 billion, accounting for 1 percent; the outstanding debt of banks totaled USD 845.5 billion, accounting for 49 percent; and the outstanding debt of other departments totaled USD 455.5 billion, accounting for 27 percent. The outstanding debt of inter-company loans under direct investments totaled USD 217.5 billion, accounting for 13 percent.

In terms of debt instruments, the balance of loans amounted to USD 391.4 billion, accounting for 23 percent; outstanding trade credits and advances amounted to USD 287.1 billion, accounting for 16 percent; the balance of currency and deposits amounted to USD 435.8 billion, accounting for 25 percent; the balance of debt securities amounted to USD 337.9 billion, accounting for 20 percent; the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) quota amounted to USD 10 billion, accounting for 1 percent. The balance of inter-company loans under direct investments amounted to USD 217.5 billion, accounting for 13 percent; the balance of other debts amounted to USD 30.9 billion, accounting for 2 percent.

With respect to currency, the outstanding external debt in domestic currency totaled USD 569.2 billion, accounting for 33 percent. The outstanding external debt in foreign currencies (including SDR quota) totaled USD 1.14 trillion, accounting for 67 percent. USD debt accounted for 82 percent, Euro debt accounted for 9 percent, JPY debt accounted for 2 percent, SDR and other foreign currency-denominated external debt accounted for 7 percent of the total outstanding registered external debt in foreign currencies.

As at the end of 2017, the ratio of outstanding external debt to GDP was 14 percent, the ratio of outstanding external debt to revenue from trade in goods and services was 71 percent, the ratio of debt services (the ratio of the sum of medium-and long-term external-debt payments and short-term external-debt interest payments to revenue from trade in goods and services) was 7 percent, and the ratio of short-term external debt to foreign exchange reserves was 35 percent. Since all of these indicators were within internationally-recognized thresholds, China's external-debt risks remained under control.

Note:

1. The internationally-recognized thresholds for external debt risk indicators-liability ratio, debt ratio, debt servicing ratio and ratio of short-term external debt to foreign exchange reserves are 20 percent, 100 percent, 20 percent and 100 percent respectively.