SEOUL, May 22 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's foreign debt fell in the first quarter due to lower long-term liability, which offset higher short-term debt, central bank data showed Wednesday.

Foreign debt amounted to 667.5 billion U.S. dollars at the end of March, down 5.1 billion dollars from three months earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

Short-term foreign debt with a maturity of less than one year added 0.3 billion dollars to 141.0 billion dollars in the first quarter, but long-term external liability decreased 5.4 billion dollars to 526.5 billion dollars.

The ratio of short-term foreign debt to the total external liability increased 0.2 percentage points from three months earlier to 21.1 percent at the end of March.

The ratio of short-term foreign debt to foreign reserves advanced 0.2 percentage points to 33.6 percent.

Net external credit, or external credit minus foreign debt, stood at 384.6 billion dollars at the end of March, up 12.6 billion dollars from three months earlier. Enditem

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