The Ministry of Strategy & Finance said on November 20 in a report “3Q 2013 Foreign Debt Trend” that the total foreign debt balance as of the end of September this year was US$429.1 billion, down 3.1 percent ($13.1 billion) from the previous quarter.(image: Kobizmedia/Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Nov. 21 (Korea Bizwire) – Major indexes for foreign debt including the volume of short-term debt for the third quarter have improved substantially compared to the previous quarters. The main reason behind the improvement has to do with the depreciation of the won value against the U.S. dollar. The Ministry of Strategy & Finance said on November 20 in a report “3Q 2013 Foreign Debt Trend” that the total foreign debt balance as of the end of September this year was US$429.1 billion, down 3.1 percent ($13.1 billion) from the previous quarter.
Of this, the balance of short-term debt shrank by $5.7 billion from the second quarter to $126.1 billion, the first time this year to see a reduced short-term debt balance. As for the long-term debt balance, it was $303.0 billion, down 2.5 percent from the previous quarter’s $295.6 billion.
The volume of bonds purchased by foreign investors increased by 900 billion won ($810 million), but the long-term debt balance fell as the won-dollar exchange rate moved higher 3.6 percent to 1,050.60 won per dollar at the end of the third quarter from 1,014.40 won at the end of June.
The share of short-term debt out of total was 29.4 percent, down 0.4 percentage point from the second quarter. The ratio of short-term debt in foreign reserves for the quarter was 34.6 percent, down 1.4 percentage points from the previous quarter.
By Sean Chung (schung10@koreabizwire.com)
