SEOUL, June 15 (Reuters) - South Korea’s net international credits more than halved to a 7-1/2-year low of $14.95 billion by the end of March from a revised $35.53 billion three months before, central bank data showed on Sunday.
It was the smallest amount of credits South Korea held in excess of debts since $9.68 billion at the end of September 2000, the Bank of Korea data showed.
International credits South Korea owned at the end of March rose 2.3 percent to $427.43 billion from a revised $417.71 billion three months earlier, while debt rose by a faster 7.9 percent to $412.48 billion from a revised $382.18 billion.
The growing foreign debt, due in part to borrowing by banks to fund their forward deals with local exporters, has put Asia’s fourth-largest economy on the verge of turning into a net debtor country for the first time in eight years.
South Korea is worried that turning into a net debtor would undermine its international profile, a concern also expressed by credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s recently. (Reporting by Yoo Choonsik; Editing by Kim Coghill)
