BEIJING, July 4 (Xinhua) -- China's outstanding foreign debts rose by 18.97 billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter to reach 392.59 billion U.S. dollars by the end of March, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said on its website on Friday.

    SAFE figures showed China incurred medium and long-term foreign debts of 7.75 billion U.S. dollars in the first three months this year, a rise of 15.04 percent over the same period last year.

    Nobody at the SAFE was immediately available for further comment on the figure.

    The outstanding medium and long-term foreign debt reached 155.86 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 2.33 billion U.S. dollars from the end of last year.

    During the same period, short-term foreign debt stood at 236.73 billion U.S. dollars, up 16.64 billion U.S. dollars from the previous quarter.

    The SAFE has pledged to tighten oversight of the cross-border money flow, notably the outstanding short-term foreign debt, in a bid to curb rampant hot money inflow from investors speculating on rising currency and asset prices, and exacerbating excessive liquidity and worsening inflation.

    About 1.75 trillion U.S. dollars of speculative funds flowed into China over the past five years, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said in a report last month, a sum equal to 104 percent of China's foreign reserve by the end of March.