SEOUL, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's foreign debt kept growing for the third straight quarter due to an increase in long-term debt, central bank data showed Wednesday.
Foreign debt gained 2.5 billion U.S. dollars from three months earlier to 738.1 billion dollars at the end of September, after swelling 10.5 billion dollars in the first quarter and 52.2 billion dollars in the second quarter, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
Short-term foreign debt with a maturity of less than one year retreated 5.4 billion dollars to 161.6 billion dollars in the third quarter, but long-term external liability expanded 7.9 billion dollars to 576.5 billion dollars.
The ratio of short-term foreign debt to the total external liability declined 0.8 percentage points from three months earlier to 21.9 percent at the end of September.
The ratio of short-term foreign debt to foreign reserves slipped 2.4 percentage points to 38.3 percent.
Net external credit, or external credit minus foreign debt, ran into 381.8 billion dollars at the end of September, up 24.6 billion dollars from three months earlier. ■
