At the end of 2009, China's outstanding external debt (excluding that of Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, and Taiwan Province) reached USD 428.647 billion, of which the outstanding registered external debt was USD 266.947 billion and the balance of trade credit was USD 161.7 billion.Note
According to comparable specifications, the outstanding long- and medium-term external debt (with the remaining term) was USD 169.388 billion, accounting for 39.52 percent of the total outstanding external debt. The outstanding short-term external debt (with the remaining term) was USD 259.259 billion, accounting for 60.48 percent of the outstanding external debt. In terms of China's outstanding short-term external debt, the balance of trade credit was USD 161.7 billion. The outstanding registered short-term external debt (with the remaining term) was USD 97.559 billion, accounting for 37.63 percent of the outstanding short-term external debt and 22.76 percent of the total outstanding external debt.
Of the outstanding registered external debt of USD 266.947 billion, the outstanding sovereign debt borrowed by ministries under the State Council totaled USD 36.855 billion, accounting for 13.81 percent; the outstanding debt of Chinese-funded financial institutions was USD 94.079 billion, accounting for 35.24 percent; the outstanding debt of foreign-funded enterprises was USD 93.181 billion, accounting for 34.91 percent; the outstanding debt of foreign-funded financial institutions in China was USD 38.34 billion, accounting for 14.36 percent; the outstanding debt of Chinese-funded enterprises was USD 4.184 billion, accounting for 1.57 percent; and the outstanding debt of other institutions was USD 308 million, accounting for 0.11 percent.
The amount of long- and medium-term external debt in 2009 was USD 22.445 billion, a decrease of USD 13.862 billion or 38.18 percent from that during the previous year. The principal repayment of long- and medium-term external debt was USD 34.186 billion, an increase of USD 10.895 billion, or 46.78 percent over that in the previous year. The interest payment of long- and medium-term external debt was USD 3629 million, a decrease of USD 525 million or 12.64 percent from that in the previous year.
In 2009, in terms of types of debt, international commercial loans constituted the majority of Chinas external debt. The balance of international commercial loans amounted to USD 198.649 billion at year-end 2009, accounting for 74.42 percent of the outstanding registered external debt; the balance of foreign government loans and loans granted by international financial organizations amounted to USD 68.298 billion, accounting for 25.58 percent of the outstanding registered external debt.
In terms of the currency structure, debt in U.S. dollars constituted the majority of Chinas external debt in 2009. Of the total registered external debt at year-end 2009, debt in U.S. dollars accounted for 67.76 percent, debt in Japanese yen accounted for 11.89 percent, and debt in Euro was 6.38 percent; other debts, including SDRs and Hong Kong dollars, accounted for 13.97 percent of the total.
The medium- and long-term debt was mainly absorbed by the manufacturing sector and the construction of infrastructure such as communications and transportation sector, warehousing, postal-service facilities, and so on. According to the industrial classifications of the national economy, of the USD 188.138 billion of outstanding registered medium- and long-term external debt (based on contract terms), USD 39.082 billion was channeled to the manufacturing sector, accounting for 20.77 percent of the total; USD 23.783 billion was absorbed by the communications and transportation sector, the warehousing sector, and the postal-service sector, accounting for 12.64 percent of the total; USD 16.564 billion went to the production and supply of electric power, coal, gas, and water, accounting for 8.80 percent; USD 12.231 billion was absorbed by the information technology services sector, accounting for 6.50 percent; and USD 11.825 billion was channeled to the real estate sector, accounting for 6.29 percent.
Initial calculations reveal that the debt service ratio in 2009 was 2.87 percent, the ratio of outstanding external debt to foreign exchange income was 32.16 percent, the ratio of outstanding external debt to GDP was 8.73 percent, and the ratio of short-term external debt to foreign exchange reserves was 10.81 percent. All of these indicators are within the safe range of international standards.

Note  Adjustments have been made to the sampling survey method for trade credit in 2009. According to the new method, the balance of trade credit at year-end 2009 was USD 161.7 billion. To ensure data comparability, the balance of trade credit at year-end 2008 was adjusted to USD 129.6 billion (the pre-adjustment amount was USD 114.1 billion).