Korea's external debt little changed in Q2: BOK data
A clerk checks $100 banknotes at the headquarters of Hana Bank in Seoul, July 5. Yonhap
Korea's external debt remained little changed in the second quarter of this year amid economic uncertainty, central bank data showed Wednesday.
The country's external liabilities had come to $665.1 billion as of end-June, compared with $665 billion tallied three months earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea.
The data showed that a rise in long-term external borrowing by the government offset a decline in short-term debt by banks.
Of the total, the country's short-term debt that matures in a year declined by $11.8 billion on-quarter to $161.9 billion, while long-term debt rose $11.9 billion over the same period to $503.2 billion, the data showed.
The ratio of short-term debt to foreign reserves fell by 2.4 percentage points to 38.4 percent. A lower ratio means a stronger debt-serving capability.
The ratio of short-term debt to total external liabilities also declined 1.8 percentage points on-quarter to 24.3 percent, the data showed. (Yonhap)