Foreign debt burden steadily decreases over past 3 months

The short-term foreign debt has steadily fallen in the last three months and total foreign debt has hit its lowest level since February of this year.

According to a report by the Ministry of Finance and Economy on Sunday, the total foreign debt burden as of October was $138.4 billion, a decrease of $2.1 billion from last month, and the lowest since February of this year.

Meanwhile, the short-term debt as of October reached $46.1 billion, a decrease of $700 million since September. The current short-term debt reflects a steady decrease in the last three months.

A source at the Ministry of Finance and Economy said the financial institutions that were granted rollbacks of their short-term debts during the foreign currency crisis were able to make early payment of $1.8 billion, resulting in a reduction in total long-term debt. He further explained that the decrease in the amount of short-term debt came about through the payment of $1 billion by the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation.