Outstanding of China's external debts rose from US$4.8 billion in six months to US$327.8 billion by the end of June 2007, according to statistics released by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) Saturday.

The statistics showed that outstanding of China's registered external debt in the first half of this year, which stood at US$216.7 billion, experienced first negative growth for the past five years.

The SAFE declined to give further details or comments.

During the period, China borrowed mid- and long-term foreign debts of US$15.37 billion, an increase of 55.6 percent, US$5.49 billion, over the same period last year.

Meanwhile, China has paid US$11 billion of debt principal and US$1.74 billion of interest, up 31.76 percent and 55.64 percent compared with the corresponding period last year respectively.

(China Daily September 30, 2007)