External debt climbs to $16t at end-2025 as banking sector share shrinks

Nearly 97% of the sector's debt comprised short-term liabilities.

Hong Kong's gross external debt rose 10% over the past five years, reaching $16t at end-2025, up from $14t at end-2021, driven largely by significant growth of debt in other sectors.

The banking sector remained the dominant contributor, accounting for 52.5% to 60.6% of gross external debt throughout the period.

However, its total external debt edged down by 4.8% to $8t as nearly 97% of the banking sector’s external debt comprised short-term liabilities, primarily currency and deposits.

The strongest growth came from other sectors, where debt surged 40.7% from $3t to $4.8t.

Loans accounted for 70.9% to 77.8% of this segment's liabilities, with long-term debts consistently making up around 70–72% of the total.

Debt liabilities in direct investment—intercompany lending—grew 13.6% to $2t at end-2025.

Of this, 46.5% represented liabilities from direct investment enterprises to direct investors, with reverse liabilities at 30.4% and inter-fellow enterprise debt at 23.1%.

Government external debt — almost entirely long-term liabilities from non-resident holdings of Hong Kong government debt securities — ranged from $45.7b to $154.5b over the period.

The HKMA's external debt, whilst still less than 0.6% of gross debt, rose sharply from $1.5b at end-2021 to $84.1b at end-2025, largely in short-term currency and deposit liabilities.