SEOUL, May 23 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's foreign debt stood unchanged at 440.5 billion U.S. dollars as of end-March compared with three months earlier, central bank data showed Thursday.
The short-term foreign debt gained 2.9 billion dollars to 129.4 billion dollars in the cited period, but the long-term liability declined 2.9 billion dollars to 311.1 billion dollars, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
The ratio of short-term external debt to foreign reserves added 0.6 percentage points to 31.9 percent on the higher short-term debt.
The percentage of short-term debt to the total external liability rose 0.6 percentage points to 29.4 percent.
The short-term foreign debt growth was led by the Seoul branches of foreign banks, but the finance ministry said in a statement that the external soundness figures hovered around a stable level of 30 percent.
Net external credit, which gauges external credit minus foreign debt, increased 6.7 billion dollars from three months earlier to 474.2 billion dollars at the end of March.
It marked the quarterly high as investors expanded the purchase of foreign stocks amid the recovery of the global stock market.
