(Xinhua) — South Korea’s foreign debt hit a record high in the second quarter due to the increased foreign investment in domestic bonds, central bank data showed Thursday.
Foreign debt reached a new high of 604.2 billion U.S. dollars at the end of June, up 38.3 billion dollars from three months earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
It came as foreign investors raised their holdings of local bonds amid the positive views over the country’s economic fundamental.
The short-term foreign debt with a maturity of less than one year took up 29.5 percent of the total external liability as of end-June, up 0.2 percentage points from three months earlier.
The ratio of short-term foreign debt to the country’s foreign reserves gained 2.1 percentage points to 39.2 percent in the three-month period.
External credit advanced 30.4 billion dollars from three months earlier to 1.06 trillion dollars as of the end of June owing to a hike in the country’s foreign reserves.
Net external credit, or the external credit minus foreign debt, grew 7.9 billion dollars to 456.9 billion dollars.
