5302.0 - Balance of Payments and International Investment Position, Australia, Jun 2003  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 28/08/2003   
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Feature Article - Gross External Debt



AUSTRALIA'S EXTERNAL DEBT

Quarterly statistics on Australia's foreign debt have been published as a component of the international investment position (IIP) for many years. International investment statistics are compiled in accordance with the standards set out in the Fifth Edition of
the International Monetary Fund's Balance of Payments Manual (BPM5, 1993).

The level of Australia's foreign debt is presented in detail in Table 35 of this publication, with data on debt transactions presented in Table 34. Both tables show debt assets (where Australian residents have a non-equity claim on non-residents), debt liabilities (where non-residents have a non-equity claim on Australian residents) and the net debt position. A summary of the net foreign debt position, in reconciliation format, is presented in Table 2.

More recently, the External Debt Statistics: Guide for Compilers and Users (available on the IMF web site <http://www.imf.org/external/np/sta/ed/guide.htm>) has introduced the concept of "external debt", which differs from the definition of foreign debt that the ABS uses in the IIP. The difference is that external debt excludes financial derivatives. The Guide's external debt presentation also includes only debt liabilities, with no provision for the presentation or netting off of debt assets.

In keeping with Australia's reporting obligations under the IMF's Special Data Dissemination Standard, to which Australia and 52 other countries have subscribed, the ABS will publish each quarter in this publication external debt statistics in addition to the existing foreign debt statistics. This will enable analysts to have external debt data available on a basis comparable with the statistics produced by other countries.

The table below presents Australia's external debt according to the Guide's formulation. Financial derivative liabilities are shown as a memorandum item to reconcile external debt with foreign debt liabilities presented in Table 35.

For the time being, this information will be provided in a table in the 'Analysis' section of the publication. When the publication is redesigned in due course, the table will be incorporated into the main body of the tables.

GROSS EXTERNAL DEBT

GROSS EXTERNAL DEBT LIABILITIES(a)(b)(c) - Levels - $million

Jun Qtr
Sep Qtr
Dec Qtr
Mar Qtr
Jun Qtr
2002
2002
2002
2003
2003 p

Direct investment liabilities
55,817
61,159
67,392
66,203
64,647
    External debt liabilities to affiliated enterprises
10,577
12,133
12,549
12,598
11,727
    External debt liabilities to direct investors
45,240
49,026
54,843
53,605
52,920
Other liabilities
437,029
454,477
460,270
454,392
458,818
    General government
24,927
25,302
23,858
22,246
24,049
      Short term
361
557
975
296
0
        Money market instruments
361
557
975
296
0
      Long term
24,566
24,745
22,883
21,950
24,050
        Bonds and notes
24,442
24,620
22,758
21,829
23,932
        loans and other liabilities
124
125
125
121
118
    Financial corporations
351,108
365,701
372,785
370,398
372,435
    Monetary authorities
43
35
50
37
150
      Short term
43
35
50
37
150
        Currency and deposits
43
35
50
37
150
    Depository corporations
266,870
276,494
281,268
278,904
279,761
      Short term
156,727
160,100
162,859
162,760
157,407
        Money Market instruments
61,319
64,550
62,036
60,989
55,110
        Trade credits
19
15
31
63
68
        Loans and other liabilities
38,847
35,937
41,646
41,850
40,683
        Currency and deposits
56,542
59,598
59,146
59,858
61,546
      Long term
110,142
116,396
118,410
116,144
122,355
        Bonds and notes
105,991
109,935
112,372
109,986
116,537
        Loans and other liabilities
4,151
6,461
6,038
6,158
5,818
    Other financial corporations
84,195
89,172
91,467
91,457
92,524
      Short term
18,547
19,495
18,924
13,945
13,442
        Money market instruments
6,157
6,331
6,797
5,157
3,068
        Trade credits
745
920
586
449
668
        Loans and other liabilities
11,645
12,244
11,541
8,339
9,706
      Long term
65,649
69,676
72,545
77,514
79,080
        Bonds and notes
64,490
68,541
71,187
75,712
76,284
        Trade credits
27
23
24
24
26
        Loans and other liabilities
1,132
1,112
1,334
1,778
2,770
    Other sectors
60,994
63,474
63,627
61,748
62,334
      Short term
7,907
8,659
9,158
8,563
9,023
        Money market instruments
5,088
5,100
5,448
4,681
4,844
        Trade credits
2,232
2,768
2,965
3,217
3,151
        Loans and other liabilities
587
791
745
665
1,028
      Long term
53,087
54,814
54,471
53,187
53,313
        Bonds and notes
44,240
45,469
45,533
44,019
43,836
        Trade credits
169
149
243
208
211
        Loans and other liabilities
8,678
9,196
8,695
8,960
9,266
GROSS EXTERNAL DEBT (d)
492,848
515,637
527,663
520,596
523,465
Financial derivative liabilities
31,586
30,182
35,046
37,683
44,980
FOREIGN DEBT LIABILITIES (e)
524,434
545,819
562,709
558,279
568,445


(a) Instruments are valued at market value or best available proxy.
(b) Liabilities include accrued interest and exclude equity and financial derivative liabilities
(c) The short term/long term classification is on an original maturity basis.
(d) Gross External Debt as defined in External debt Statistics: Guide for Compilers and Users.
(e) Foreign Debt as shown in ABS's International Investment Position.