S. Korean short-term foreign debts hit highest in 11 quarters

Source: Xinhua | 2018-08-23

South Korea's short-term foreign debts hit the highest in 11 quarters, leading to lower net external credit, central bank data showed Wednesday.

The ratio of foreign debts, which mature in less than a year, to foreign reserves was 31.3 percent as of the end of June, up 0.9 percentage points from three months earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

It was the highest since September 2015. The ratio of short-term debts to the total external liabilities increased to 28.4 percent as of end-June from 27.8 percent three months ago.

Affected by higher short-term foreign debts, net external credit reduced to 454.9 billion dollars as of end-June from 460.3 billion dollars three months earlier.

It was the first decline since the end of June in 2012. The lower net external credit was attributed to external liability that grew faster than external credit.