State Administration of Foreign Exchange: China's external debt situation will remain generally stable in 2025, and overall external debt risks are controllable.

On March 27, People’s Financial News reported that the State Administration of Foreign Exchange recently released data on China’s external debt as of the end of 2025. Li Bin, Deputy Director and Spokesperson of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, answered reporters’ questions on related issues. Q: How do you evaluate the status of China’s external debt in 2025? A: In 2025, the overall situation of China’s external debt is stable. First, the scale of external debt has decreased steadily. As of the end of 2025, China’s total external debt (including both domestic and foreign currencies) stood at $23,288 billion, a decrease of $15.5 billion compared to the end of 2024, a decline of 0.7%. Second, the currency structure of external debt has been optimized, and the maturity structure remains basically stable. In terms of currency structure, domestic currency external debt accounts for 55.5%, an increase of 1.4 percentage points compared to the end of 2024; in terms of maturity structure, medium- and long-term external debt accounts for 43.5%, a decrease of 0.6 percentage points compared to the end of 2024. The overall risk of China’s external debt is manageable. By the end of 2025, China’s external debt liability ratio (the ratio of external debt balance to GDP) is 11.9%, the debt ratio (the ratio of external debt balance to trade export income) is 56.3%, and the debt service ratio (the ratio of external debt principal and interest payments to trade export income) is 6.2%, with the ratio of short-term external debt to foreign exchange reserves at 39.2%. All of these indicators are within the internationally recognized safety lines (20%, 100%, 20%, 100%, respectively), indicating that the overall risk of China’s external debt is manageable.