At the end of 2007, China 's outstanding external debt (excluding that of Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, and Taiwan Province ) reached USD 373.618 billion, an increase of USD 50.63 billion or 15.68% compared with that at the end of 2006. Specifically, the outstanding long- and medium-term external debt (with the remaining term) reached USD 153.534 billion, an increase of USD 14.174 billion or 10.17% compared with that at the end of 2006, accounting for 41.09% of the total outstanding external debt. The outstanding short-term external debt totaled USD 220.084 billion, an increase of USD 36.456 billion or 19.85% compared with that at the end of 2006, accounting for 58.91% of the total outstanding external debt.
In terms of China 's total outstanding external debt, the outstanding registered external debt reached USD240.518 billion and the balance of trade credit was USD 133.1 billion. In terms of the outstanding registered external debt, the outstanding sovereign debt borrowed by ministries under the State Council was USD 34.886 billion, accounting for 14.51%; the outstanding debt of Chinese-funded financial institutions was USD 80.317 billion, accounting for 33.39%; the outstanding debt of foreign-funded enterprises was USD 74.004 billion, accounting for 30.77%; the outstanding debt of foreign-funded financial institutions in China was USD 46.307 billion, accounting for 19.25%; the outstanding debt of Chinese-funded enterprises was USD 4.685 billion, accounting for 1.95%; and the outstanding debt of other institutions was USD 319 million, accounting for 0.13%.
The amount of registered long- and medium-term external borrowing in 2007 was USD 36.016 billion, an increase of USD 9.983 billion or 38.35% over that in the previous year. The principal repayment under the long- and medium-term debt was USD 20.267 billion, an increase of USD 2.368 billion or 13.23% over that in the previous year. The interest payment was USD 4.958 billion, an increase of USD 1.853 billion or 59.68% over that in the previous year.
Initial calculations reveal that the debt service ratio in 2007 was 1.98%, the ratio of outstanding external debts to foreign exchange income was 27.84%, the ratio of outstanding external debts to GDP was 11.52%, and the ratio of short-term external debts to foreign exchange reserves was 14.40%. All of these indexes are within the safe range of international standards.