As at the end of 2019, China recorded RMB 14.3519 trillion in outstanding external debt denominated in both domestic and foreign currencies (equivalent to USD 2.0573trillion, excluding those of Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, and Taiwan Province, the same below).

With respect to the term structure, the outstanding medium-and long-term external debt was RMB 5.9435 trillion (USD 852.0 billion), accounting for 41%; while the outstanding short-term external debt was RMB 8.4084 trillion (USD 1.2053trillion), taking up 59%, including 43% trade-related credit.

In terms of institutions and sectors, the outstanding debt of government totaled RMB1.8901 trillion(USD 270.9billion), accounting for 13%; the outstanding debt of the central bank totaled RMB 253.4 billion (USD 36.3 billion), accounting for 2%; the outstanding debt of banks totaled RMB 6.4037 trillion (USD 918.0 billion), taking up 45%; the outstanding debt of other sectors(including inter-company lending under direct investments) totaled RMB 5.8047 trillion (USD 832.1 billion), taking up 40%;

In terms of debt instruments, the outstanding of loans was RMB 3.1784 trillion (USD 455.6 billion), accounting for 22%; the outstanding of trade credit and prepayment was RMB 2.5417 trillion (USD 364.3billion), accounting for 18%; the outstanding of currency and deposits was RMB 2.9467 trillion (USD 422.4 billion), accounting for 20%; the outstanding of debt securities was RMB 3.6928 trillion (USD 529.3 billion), accounting for 25.5%; the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) allocation amounted to RMB 67.4 billion (USD 9.7billion), accounting for 0.5%. The outstanding debt of inter-company lending under direct investments totaled RMB 1.6725 trillion (USD 239.8 billion), accounting for12%; and the outstanding of other debt liabilities was RMB 252.4billion (USD 36.2 billion), making up 2%.

With respect to currency structures, the outstanding external debt in domestic currency totaled RMB 5.078 trillion (USD 727.9 billion), accounting for 35%; the outstanding external debt in foreign currencies (including SDR allocation) totaled RMB 9.2739 trillion (USD 1.3294 trillion), accounting for 65%. In the total outstanding registered external debt in foreign currencies, the USD debt accounted for 83%, the Euro debt accounted for 8%, the HKD debt accounted for5%, the JPY debt accounted for 2%, the SDR and other foreign currency-denominated external debt accounted for 2%.

As at the end of 2019，the liability ratio was 14.3 percent, the debt ratio was 77.8 percent, the debt servicing ratio was 6.7 percent, and the ratio of short-term external debt to foreign exchange reserves was 38.8 percent. China’s major external debt metrics were all within the internationally recognized thresholds,indicating that the external debt risk is controllable on the whole.

In addition, SAFE revised the outstanding external debt data from the end of 2018 to the end of September 2019 based on the latest data of the distributed and unremitted profits of foreign-invested enterprises, and released it in the "Data and Statistics" column of the SAFE's official website. For the interpretation of China's outstanding external debt data at the end of 2019, please refer to the "Balance of Payments Report of China (2019)".

Appendix

Definition of terms and interpretations

External debt classificationby term structure. There are two methods to classify the external debt by term structure. One is on the basis of the contract term,i.e. it is classified as medium- and long-term external debt if the contractterm is over one year, and classified as short-term external debt if the contract term is one year or less; the other is on the basis of the remaining term, i.e.,on the basis of the contract term classification method above, the medium- and long-term external debt due within one year is classified as short-term external debt. In this news release, external debt is divided into medium- and long-term external debt and short-term external debt based on the contract term.

Trade-related credit is a broad concept. In addition to trade credit and prepayment, it also involves other kinds of credit provided for trade activities. As it is defined,trade-related credit includes trade credit and prepayment, bank trade financing, short-term notes related to trade, and so forth. In particular, trade credit and prepayment refer to external liability arising from directly extending credit between the seller and buyer of goods transactions, specifically transactions between residents in the Chinese Mainland and overseas non-residents (including non-residents in Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, and Taiwan Province), i.e., the debt incurred due tothe difference between the time of payment and the time of the goods ownership transfer, which include credit directly provided by the supplier (e.g., theoverseas exporter) for goods and services, and advance payments made by buyers(e.g., overseas importers) for goods, services, and on-going business (or business to be undertaken). Bank trade financing refers to trade related loans that offered by a third party(e.g., banks) to exporters or importers, for instance, loans extended by foreign financial institutions or export credit agencies to buyers.

Liability ratio refers to the ratio of outstanding external debt as of the end of the year to the GDP for the year. Debt ratio refers to the ratio of the outstanding external debt as of the end of the year to the export revenue from trade in goods and services for the year in the balance of payments. Debt servicing ratio refers to the ratio of the repayment of the principal and payment of interest on external debt for the year (the sum of the repayment of the principal and payment of interest on medium- and long-term external debt and the payment of the interest of short-term external debt) to the export revenue from trade ingoods and services for the year in the balance of payments. The internationally recognized thresholds for external debt risk indicators - liability ratio, debtratio, 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.