▲ A clerk sorts US$100 banknotes at the headquarters of Hana Bank in Seoul in this file photo taken June 5, 2023. (Yonhap)

foreign debt-Q2 tally

S. Korea's external debt little changed in Q2: BOK data

SEOUL, Aug. 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's external debt remained little changed in the second quarter of this year amid economic uncertainty, central bank data showed Wednesday.

The country's external liabilities had come to US$665.1 billion as of end-June, compared with $665 billion tallied three months earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea.

The data showed that a rise in long-term external borrowing by the government offset a decline in short-term debt by banks.

Of the total, the country's short-term debt that matures in a year declined by $11.8 billion on-quarter to $161.9 billion, while long-term debt rose $11.9 billion over the same period to $503.2 billion, the data showed.

The ratio of short-term debt to foreign reserves fell by 2.4 percentage points to 38.4 percent. A lower ratio means a stronger debt-serving capability.

The ratio of short-term debt to total external liabilities also declined 1.8 percentage points on-quarter to 24.3 percent, the data showed.

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