S. Korea's external debt down in Q3: BOK data

▲ 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-Q3 tally

S. Korea's external debt down in Q3: BOK data

SEOUL, Nov. 22 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's external debt decreased in the third quarter of this year amid a fall in debt investment by foreign investors, central bank data showed Wednesday.

The country's external liabilities had come to US$649.3 billion as of end-September, compared with $665.1 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 sharp decline in short-term debt.

Of the total, the country's short-term debt that matures in a year declined by $20.3 billion on-quarter to $141.6 billion, while long-term debt rose $4.6 billion over the same period to $507.7 billion, the data showed.

The ratio of short-term debt to foreign reserves fell by 4.2 percentage points to 34.2 percent. A lower ratio means a stronger debt-serving capability.

The ratio of short-term debt to total external liabilities also declined 2.5 percentage points on-quarter to 21.8 percent, the data showed.

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