The total foreign obligations declared by the private sector as of December 31, 2008
totaled US$ 58,443 million, corresponding to US$ 53,297 million (91%) to the non-financial
private sector (NFPS) and US$ 5,146 million (9%) to the private financial sector (SPF).
The external liabilities of the private sector increased by US$ 4,947 million (8%) in 2008,
as a result of the increase of US$ 5,569 million in NFPS obligations. For its part,
the external liabilities of the SPF decreased in the period by US$ 621 million.
With regard to current GDP and the value of exports of goods and services in the period, the
total owed by the private sector at the end of 2008 showed a slight decrease with respect to the value
of these indicators at the end of 2007, standing at 0.18 and 0.71, respectively.
The increase in NFPS’ foreign obligations during 2008 was
mainly due to the debt for imports, both of goods (US$ 4,268 million) and services
(US$ 423 million). The NFPS’ financial debt increased by around US$ 806
million in the year, due to increases in loan obligations and profits and dividends, which
exceeded the net cancellation of debt securities by US$ 1,190 million.
The fresh funds received from abroad by the NFPS during 2008 were 20% lower than the revenues of the
previous year, totaling US$ 3,673 million and, unlike what was observed in 2007, they were
almost entirely implemented through financial loans. Gross cancellations
of financial debts in 2008 were lower than those recorded in previous
years, basically due to lower debt write-offs.
The SPF’s foreign obligations as of 12/31/08 registered a decrease of US$ 621
million throughout 2008, mainly due to the cancellations of securities issues (US$
500 million), which were accentuated in the second half of the year.
The average rate paid on NFPS debt that earned interest stood at 6.51% per annum,
240 basis points below that recorded at the end of 2007. While those paid by the
SPF stood at around 7.08% in the case of fixed rates and 4.7% for variable rates (354
basis points above the six-month dollar LIBOR).
The average life of private external debt as of 31.12.08 stood at 1.75 years. The average life of the external debt of
the NFPS was in the order of 1.7 years, while for the SPF it reached
3.18 years.
In the last quarter of the year, both sectors reduced their external debt. The NFPS did
so by US$ 1,822 million and the SPF by US$ 735 million. The fall in the fourth quarter basically reflected
the seasonal fall in debt for export advances and pre-financing (US$
982 million) and the decrease in debt for imports of goods (US$621 million) as
a result of the lower level of external purchases.
