Warning on short-term foreign debt
3 August 2004
State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) head Guo Shuqing warned that short-term loans as a percentage of total foreign borrowing were too high and exceeded international risk benchmarks. He did not get into specifics. But in 2003, short-term foreign loans were US$77 billion, 38.1% up on 2002. Nearly 40% -- 39.8% -- of 2003 borrowings were classified as short-term, as against 32.6% in 2002. Speculators, banks among them, are blamed for the current spike in short-term forex borrowing as expectation of an RMB revaluation builds.