External debts 2016

At at the end of 2016, China's outstanding full-scale external debt (excluding those of Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, and Taiwan province, the same below) reached USD 1.42 trillion.

With respect to the term structure, the outstanding medium-and long-term external debt was USD 549.8 billion, accounting for 39 percent while the outstanding short-term external debt was USD 870.9 billion, accounting for 61 percent.

In terms of institutions and departments, the outstanding government debt was USD 123.9 billion in a broad sense, accounting for 9 percent; the outstanding debt of the central bank was USD 55.5 billion, accounting for 4 percent; the outstanding debt of banks was USD 604.2 billion, accounting for 42 percent; and the outstanding debt of other departments was USD 427.7 billion, accounting for 30 percent. The outstanding debt of inter-company loans under direct investments was USD 209.4 billion, accounting for 15 percent.

In terms of debt instruments, the balance of loans was USD 324.4 billion, accounting for 23 percent; the balance of trade credit and prepayment was USD 288.3 billion, accounting for 20 percent; the balance of currency and deposits was USD 311.2 billion, accounting for 22 percent; the balance of debt securities was USD 230.1 billion, accounting for 16 percent; and the SDR quota was USD 9.4 billion, accounting for 1 percent. The balance of intercompany loans under direct investments was USD 209.4 billion, accounting for 15 percent; the balance of other debts was USD 47.9 billion, accounting for 3 percent.

With respect to currency structure, the outstanding external debt in domestic currency was USD 487.7, accounting for 34 percent. The outstanding external debt in foreign currencies (including Special Drawing Rights quota) was USD 933 billion, accounting for 66 percent. USD debt accounted for 82 percent, Euro debt, 7 percent, JPY debt, 3 percent, and other foreign currency-denominated debt including Special Drawing Rights (SDR) and HKD accounted for 8 percent of the total outstanding registered external debt in foreign currencies.

The calculations reveal that the external debt/GDP ratio (the ratio of the outstanding external debt to GDP of the current year), the external debt/ export revenue ratio (the ratio of the outstanding external debt to the export revenue of trade in goods and services of the current year, which is calculated on the basis of the statistical coverage of the balance of payments), and the debt servicing ratio (the ratio of the sum of the repayment of the principal and interest of medium- and long-term external debt and the payment of the interest of short-term external debt to the export revenue of trade in goods and services of the current year, which is calculated on the basis of the statistical coverage of the balance of payments), and the ratio of short-term external debt to foreign exchange reserves were 12.7 percent, 64.6 percent, 6.1 percent, and 28.9 percent respectively in 2016. All of these indicators were within an internationally-accepted range.

Note:

1. The internationally-accepted ranges for external debt risk indicators-liability ratio, debt ratio, 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.