China's outstanding foreign debts stood at 182.57 billion US dollars (excluding those in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan regions) at the end of June this year, a growth of 8.33 percent from the end of 2002, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) announced Wednesday Sep.10.

It included 118.38 billion dollars of long- and medium-term debts and 64.2 billion dollars of short-term debts, 2.82 billion and 11.21 billion dollars respectively more than the figures at the end of last year.
 
Short-term foreign debts should be serviced within one year and long- and medium-term ones can be serviced beyond one year.

A spokesman for SAFE said that China's foreign debt size was still "below the danger line" and the added share of short-term debts would not exert a fundamental impact on the country's foreign debt situation as a whole.

He noted that China now boasts a strong ability to service debts with abundant foreign exchange reserves.

China's outstanding foreign debts and new debts both recorded big increases in the first six months, especially with short-term debts rising, which has aroused concern from relevant state departments.

From January to June, China's new debts reached 42.18 billion dollars and debts serviced stood at 38.36 billion dollars.