State Administration of Foreign Exchange: It is expected that China's foreign debt scale will continue to remain stable.

Recently, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) announced the Chinese external debt data as of the end of September 2024. Li Bin, Deputy Director of SAFE and spokesperson, answered questions from reporters on related issues. Li Bin stated that it is expected that China's external debt size will continue to remain stable. Looking at the external environment, since 2024, developed economies such as the US and Europe have lowered interest rates multiple times, and the cost of foreign currency financing is expected to gradually decrease. Looking at the internal environment, China's economic foundation is stable, with many advantages, strong resilience, great potential, and the fundamental support conditions and trends for long-term improvement have not changed. The Central Economic Work Conference has clearly stated to implement more proactive macroeconomic policies next year to promote sustained economic recovery and improvement, which will help China's external debt size continue to remain stable. The original text: Deputy Director and spokesperson Li Bin of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange answered questions from reporters on China's external debt data at the end of September 2024 Recently, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange announced the Chinese external debt data as of the end of September 2024. Li Bin, Deputy Director of SAFE and spokesperson, answered questions from reporters on related issues. Question: How was China's external debt situation in the third quarter of 2024? In the third quarter of 2024, China's external debt size slightly decreased, while the structure remained stable. As of the end of September 2024, China's total foreign debt balance (including onshore and offshore) was $2.5169 trillion, a decrease of $28.4 billion from the end of June 2024, a decrease of 1.1%. From a currency structure perspective, the share of onshore foreign debt was 50%, an increase of 1 percentage point from the end of June 2024; in terms of maturity structure, the share of medium and long-term foreign debt was 43%, a decrease of 1 percentage point from the end of June 2024. Question: How do you view the current situation of China's external debt? The decrease in external debt size was mainly influenced by the decrease in offshore foreign debt balances. Due to factors such as relatively high offshore financing costs, at the end of the third quarter of 2024, onshore foreign debt balances increased by 1.9% compared to the previous quarter, while offshore foreign debt balances decreased by 3.9%, leading to a slight overall decrease in total foreign debt balances. It is expected that China's external debt size will continue to remain stable. Looking at the external environment, developed economies such as the US and Europe have lowered interest rates multiple times since 2024, and the cost of foreign currency financing is expected to gradually decrease; looking at the internal environment, China's economic foundation is stable, with many advantages, strong resilience, great potential, and the fundamental support conditions and trends for long-term improvement have not changed. The Central Economic Work Conference has clearly stated to implement more proactive macroeconomic policies next year to promote sustained economic recovery and improvement, which will help China's external debt size continue to remain stable. The State Administration of Foreign Exchange announced the total external debt data for China at the end of September 2024 As of the end of September 2024, China's total foreign debt balance (including onshore and offshore) was 17.6371 trillion RMB (equivalent to $2.5169 trillion, excluding external liabilities of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macau Special Administrative Region, and Taiwan region). In terms of maturity structure, the balance of medium and long-term foreign debt was 7.6642 trillion RMB (equivalent to $1.0937 trillion), accounting for 43%; the balance of short-term foreign debt was 9.9729 trillion RMB (equivalent to $1.4232 trillion), accounting for 57%. Among the balance of short-term foreign debt, credit related to trade accounted for 33%. In terms of institutional sectors, the balance of general government foreign debt was 3.0186 trillion RMB (equivalent to $430.8 billion), accounting for 17%; the balance of central bank foreign debt was 649.8 billion RMB (equivalent to $92.7 billion), accounting for 4%; the balance of bank foreign debt was 7.7649 trillion RMB (equivalent to $1.1081 trillion), accounting for 44%; the balance of other sectors (including inter-company loans) foreign debt was 6.2037 trillion RMB (equivalent to $885.3 billion), accounting for 35%. In terms of debt instruments, the balance of loans was 2.5678 trillion RMB (equivalent to $366.4 billion), accounting for 15%; the balance of trade credits and advances was 2.7007 trillion RMB (equivalent to $385.4 billion), accounting for 15%; the balance of currency and deposits was 3.3035 trillion RMB (equivalent to $471.4 billion), accounting for 19%; the balance of debt securities was 6.1838 trillion RMB (equivalent to $882.5 billion), accounting for 35%; the allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDR) was 344.1 billion RMB (equivalent to $49.1 billion), accounting for 2%; the balance of inter-company loans was 1.7843 trillion RMB (equivalent to $254.6 billion), accounting for 10%; the balance of other debt liabilities was 752.9 billion RMB (equivalent to $107.4 billion), accounting for 4%. In terms of currency structure, the balance of onshore foreign debt was 8.8761 trillion RMB (equivalent to $1.2667 trillion), accounting for 50%; the balance of offshore foreign debt (including SDR allocation) was 8.761 trillion RMB (equivalent to $1.2502 trillion), accounting for 50%. Among the offshore registered foreign debt balances, US dollar debt accounted for 80%, Euro debt accounted for 8%, Japanese Yen debt accounted for 5%, Hong Kong Dollar debt accounted for 4%, and the total share of Special Drawing Rights and other offshore debts was 3%. China's main external debt indicators are within internationally recognized safety levels, and overall, China's external debt risk is manageable. This article is adapted from the "State Administration of Foreign Exchange official website"; GMTEight editor: Xu Wenqiang.