TEHRAN - Iran’s debts to foreign lenders in the end of the third Iranian month of Khordad (June 21, 2019) stood at $8.678 billion, showing seven percent decrease compared to the announced figure at the end of the past Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2019), IRIB reported on Sunday.

According to the latest data released by Central Bank of Iran (CBI), of the total $8.678 billion, $6.969 billion was mid-term and long-term debts and $1.708 billion was short-term debts.

As reported, Iran’s foreign debts were $9.339 billion at the end of the past Iranian calendar year.

The country’s external debts stood at $8.816 billion at the end of the second Iranian calendar month of Ordibehesht (May, 21), the CBI data showed.

Back in July, CBI published a report saying that Iran’s foreign debt at the end of the last Iranian calendar year decreased nearly 17 percent compared to the figure for the preceding year.

The report indicated that of the country’s total external debt in the mentioned date, $7.187 billion was long and medium-term debt while short-term debt accounted for $2.151 billion.

External debt is the portion of a country's debt that was borrowed from foreign lenders including commercial banks, governments or international financial institutions. These loans, including interest, must usually be paid in the currency in which the loan was made.

Foreign debt as percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the ratio between the debt a country owes to non-resident creditors and its nominal GDP.

EF/MA