S. Korea's net foreign credit tops 300 bln USD on falling debts

Net foreign credit, or foreign currencies to receive minus those to repay, in South Korea topped 300 billion U.S. dollars for the first time on the back of a slide in foreign debts, central bank data showed on Monday.

Foreign credit, or money to receive from foreign players, reached a new high of 722 billion dollars as of the end of September, up 5.1 billion dollars from three months earlier, according to the Bank of Korea.

Foreign debt amounted to 409.1 billion dollars as of end-September, down 14.6 billion dollars from three months earlier.

Helped by falling foreign debts, net foreign credit reached a record high of 312.9 billion dollars.

Short-term foreign debts, which mature in less than a year, dipped 5.6 billion dollars from three months earlier to 119.6 billion dollars as of end-September.

The ratio of short-term external debts to total foreign liabilities stood at 29.2 percent as of end-September, down 0.3 percentage points from three months earlier.

Long-term foreign debts declined 8.9 billion dollars to 289.5 billion dollars in the cited period. Enditem