China's outstanding foreign debts rose by US$18.97 billion in the first quarter to reach US$392.59 billion by the end of March, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said on its website on Friday.

SAFE figures showed China incurred medium and long-term foreign debts of US$7.75 billion in the first three months this year, a rise of 15.04 percent over the same period last year.

Nobody at the SAFE was immediately available for further comment on the figure.

The outstanding medium and long-term foreign debt reached US$155.86 billion, an increase of US$2.33 billion from the end of last year.

During the same period, short-term foreign debt stood at US$236.73 billion, up US$16.64 billion from the previous quarter.

The SAFE has pledged to tighten oversight of the cross-border money flow, notably the outstanding short-term foreign debt, in a bid to curb rampant hot money inflow from investors speculating on rising currency and asset prices, and exacerbating excessive liquidity and worsening inflation.

About US$1.75 trillion of speculative funds flowed into China over the past five years, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said in a report last month, a sum equal to 104 percent of China's foreign reserve by the end of March.

(Xinhua News Agency July 5, 2008)