PHNOM PENH, June 3 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's public debt stock rose 1.9 percent to 13.3 billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter of 2026, up from 13.05 billion dollars at the end of 2025, said a Cambodia Public Debt Statistical Bulletin released on Wednesday.

Published by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the bulletin showed that 96 percent, or 12.7 billion dollars, was public external debt and 4 percent, or 596.03 million dollars, was public domestic debt.

The public debt stock was composed of 48 percent in USD, 17 percent in SDR (Special Drawing Rights), 10 percent in JPY, 10 percent in CNY, 9 percent in EUR, and the remainder in local and other currencies, the bulletin said.

During the January-March period this year, the government signed new concessional loans with development partners in a total amount of 91.92 million dollars, which accounted for 3 percent of the ceiling permitted by law, it said.

"Overall, all the loans are highly concessional with an average grant element of around 32.8 percent," the bulletin said.

It added that the Southeast Asian country had paid debt services to development partners in the amount of 280.6 million dollars in the first quarter of 2026.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Aun Pornmoniroth said these new loans were used to fund priority public investments to support sustainable, long-term growth and boost productivity.

"Cambodia's public debt situation is at a controllable level and continues to remain sustainable and low risk of debt distress," he said in the bulletin.

The kingdom's total public debt is at 17.9 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), which is far lower than the threshold of 40 percent, according to the bulletin.