China's outstanding external debt up 7% Jan. - Sept.

CHINA'S State Administration of Foreign Exchange announced yesterday that outstanding external debt, excluding Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, stood at US$345.7 billion as of the end of September, up 7.03 percent, or US$22.7 billion, compared with the end of 2006.

During the period, outstanding medium- and long-term external debt rose 6.23 percent to US$148 billion, while short-term external debt, which accounted for 57 percent of the total, was US$197.7 billion, up 7.64 percent.

The statistics showed that China had incurred medium- and long-term foreign debt of US$25.47 billion from January to September, up 55.6 percent, or US$7.65 billion, over the same period last year.

During that time, it paid US$14.76 billion of principal and US$2.67 billion of interest on its debt, up 18.33 percent and 44.19 percent from the corresponding period last year, respectively.