External debts 2019

At at the end of 2019, China recorded 14.35 trillion yuan in outstanding external debt denominated in both domestic and foreign currencies (equivalent to USD 2.06 trillion, 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 5.94 trillion yuan, accounting for 41 percent while the outstanding short-term external debt was 8.41 trillion yuan, taking up 59 percent, including 43 percent trade-related credit.

In terms of institutions and sectors, the outstanding debt of government totaled 1.89 trillion yuan, accounting for 13 percent; the outstanding debt of the central bank totaled 253.4 billion yuan, accounting for 2 percent; the outstanding debt of banks totaled 6.40 trillion yuan, taking up 45 percent; the outstanding debt of other sectors(including inter-company lending under direct investments) totaled 5.80 trillion yuan, taking up 40 percent.

In terms of debt instruments, the outstanding of loans was 3.18 trillion yuan , accounting for 22 percent; the outstanding of trade credit and prepayment was 2.54 trillion yuan, accounting for 18 percent; the outstanding of currency and deposits was 2.95 trillion yuan, accounting for 20 percent; the outstanding of debt securities was 3.69 trillion yuan, accounting for 25.5 percent; the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) allocation amounted to 67.4 billion yuan, accounting for 0.5 percent. The outstanding debt of inter-company lending under direct investments totaled 1.67 trillion yuan, accounting for 12 percent; and the outstanding of other debt liabilities was 252.4 billion yuan, making up 2 percent.

With respect to currency structures, the outstanding external debt in domestic currency totaled 5.08 trillion yuan, accounting for 35 percent; the outstanding external debt in foreign currencies (including SDR allocation) totaled 9.27 trillion yuan, accounting for 65 percent. In the total outstanding registered external debt in foreign currencies, the USD debt accounted for 83 percent, the Euro debt accounted for 8 percent, the HKD debt accounted for 5 percent, the JPY debt accounted for 2 percent, the SDR and other foreign currency-denominated external debt accounted for 2 percent.

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.