Who's borrowing abroad?

The public sector's net foreign borrowing was much higher in the first quarter of this year than in the first quarter of 2013. Development banks started borrowing instead of repaying debt: in the first three months of this year, development banks took on US$0.3 billion net; a year earlier, they repaid US$0.7 billion. Public sector companies borrowed US$7.5 billion net,  nearly quadrupling their borrowing compared to a year earlier. 

Private firms were also borrowing in foreign currencies. Borrowing by private sector companies (excluding banks) in the first quarter of 2014 was more than six times higher than a year earlier. The percentage increase did benefit from being measured against a low base. Still, net borrowing came to a not insignificant US$2.3 billion.