As at the end of March2022, China recorded RMB 17.2049 trillion inoutstanding external debt denominated in both domestic and foreign currencies(equivalent to USD 2710.2 billion, excluding those of Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, and Taiwan Province of China, the same below).

In terms of maturity structure, the outstanding medium-andlong-term external debt was RMB 8134 billion (equivalent to USD1281.3billion), accounting for 47percent; while the outstanding short-term external debt was RMB 9070.9 billion (equivalent to USD 1428.9 billion), taking up 53 percent,of which 38 percent was trade-related credit.

In terms of institutional sectors, the outstanding debt of generalgovernment totaled RMB 3141 billion (equivalent to USD 494.8 billion), accounting for 18 percent;the outstanding debt of the central bank totaled RMB517 billion(equivalent to USD 81.4billion), accounting for 3 percent;the outstanding debt of banks totaled RMB 7354.9 billion (equivalent to USD 1158.6 billion), accounting for 43 percent;the outstanding debt of other sectors (includinginter-company lending under direct investments) totaled RMB 6192 billion (equivalent to USD 975.4 billion), accounting for 36 percent.

In terms of debt instruments, the balance of loans was RMB 2779.8 billion (equivalentto USD 437.8 billion), accounting for 16 percent;the outstanding trade credit and prepayment was RMB 2446.6 billion (equivalent to USD 385.4 billion), accounting for 14 percent;the outstanding currency and deposits was RMB 3700.9 billion (equivalent to USD 582.9 billion), accounting for 21 percent;the outstanding debt securities was RMB 5473.3 billion (equivalent to USD 862.2 billion), accounting for32 percent;the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) allocation amounted to RMB 317.7 billion (equivalent to USD 50.1billion), accounting for 2 percent; the balanceof inter-company lending under direct investments totaled RMB 1994.5 billion (equivalent to USD 314.2 billion),accounting for 12 percent;and the balance of other debt liabilities was RMB 492.1 billion (equivalent to USD 77.6 billion), accounting for 3 percent.

With respect to currency structures, the outstanding external debt in domesticcurrency totaled RMB 7678.8billion (equivalent to USD 1209.6billion), accounting for 45 percent;the outstanding external debt in foreigncurrencies (including SDR allocation) totaled RMB 9526.1 billion (equivalent to USD 1500.6billion), accounting for 55 percent. In the outstandingregistered external debt in foreign currencies, the USD debt accounted for 86 percent, the Euro debtaccounted for 7 percent, theHKD debt accountedfor 3 percent, the JPY debt accounted for 1 percent, the SDR andother foreign currency-denominatedexternal debt accounted for 3 percent.

Since all major external debt indicatorswerewithin the internationallyrecognized thresholds, China’sexternaldebt risk is undercontrol.

Appendix

Definitionof terms and interpretations

External debt classificationby maturity structure. Thereare two methods to classify the external debt by maturitystructure. Oneis on the basis of the contractual maturity, i.e. it is classified asmedium- and long-term external debt if the contractualmaturity is overone year, and classified as short-term external debt if the contractualmaturity isone year or less;the other is on the basis of the remaining maturity, i.e., on the basis of thecontractual maturity classification method above, the medium- and long-termexternal debt due within one year is classified as short-term external debt. Inthis news release, external debt is divided into medium- and long-term externaldebt and short-term external debt based on the contractual maturity.

Trade-relatedcredit isa broad concept. In addition to trade credit and advances, it also involves otherkinds of credit provided for trade activities. According to its definition,trade-related credit includes trade credit and advances, bank trade financing, traderelated bills, and so forth. In particular, trade credit and advances refer to external liability arising fromdirectly extending credit between the seller and buyer of goods transactions,specifically transactions between residents in the Chinese Mainland andoverseas non-residents (including non-residents in Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR,and Taiwan Province of China), i.e., the debt incurred due to the differencebetween the time of payment and the time of the goods ownership transfer, whichincludecredit directly provided by the supplier (e.g., the overseas exporter)for goods and services, and prepayments made by buyers (e.g., overseasimporters) for goods, services, and work that is in progress (or work to beundertaken). Bank trade financingrefers to trade related loans that offered by a third party (e.g., banks) toexporters or importers, for instance, loans extended by foreign financialinstitutions or export credit agencies to buyers.