At the end of 2008, China's outstanding external debt (excluding that of Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, and Taiwan Province) reached USD 374.661 billion, an increase of USD 1.043 billion, or 0.28%, compared with that at the end of 2007. Specifically, the outstanding long- and medium-term external debt reached USD 163.876 billion, an increase of USD 10.342 billion, or 6.74%, compared with that at the end of 2007, accounting for 43.74% of the total outstanding external debt. The outstanding short-term external debt totaled USD 210.785 billion, a decrease of USD 9.299 billion, or 4.23%, compared with that at the end of 2007, accounting for 56.26% of the total outstanding external debt.
Among the outstanding registered external debt of USD 260.561 billion, the outstanding sovereign debt borrowed by ministries under the State Council totaled USD 33.287 billion, accounting for 12.78%; the outstanding debt of Chinese-funded financial institutions was USD 82.810 billion, accounting for 31.78%; the outstanding debt of foreign-funded enterprises was USD 96.133 billion, accounting for 36.89%; the outstanding debt of foreign-funded financial institutions in China was USD 43.530 billion, accounting for 16.71%; the outstanding debt of Chinese-funded enterprises was USD 4.471 billion, accounting for 1.72%; and the outstanding debt of other institutions was USD 330 million, accounting for 0.12%.
The amount of long- and medium-term external debt in 2008 was USD 36.307 billion, an increase of USD 291 million, or 0.81%, over that of the previous year. The principal repayment for long- and medium-term external debt was USD 23.291 billion, an increase of USD 3.024 billion, or 14.92%, over that in the previous year. The interest payment was USD 4.154 billion, a decrease of USD 804 million, or 16.22%, compared with that in the previous year.
Initial calculations reveal that the debt service ratio in 2008 was 1.78%, the ratio of the outstanding external debt to foreign exchange income was 23.69%, the ratio of outstanding external debt to GDP was 8.65%, and the ratio of the short-term external debt to foreign exchange reserves was 10.83%. All of these indexes are within the safe range of international standards.