BEIJING — China has seen a steady rise in outstanding foreign debt in the first half of this year (H1) amid government measures to facilitate cross-border financing.

The country's outstanding foreign debt stood at $2.13 trillion by the end of H1, up $75.1 billion from the end of 2019, an increase of 3.7 percent, data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed.

The increase came as the country rolled out a raft of measures to facilitate cross-border financing to support COVID-19-hit enterprises.

Among the measures, the country adjusted a key parameter in its macro-prudential management in March to allow domestic firms to take on more foreign debt while cutting administrative red tape to save time and costs for companies.

The increase in foreign debt is a combined result of continued opening-up by the country, policies to facilitate cross-border financing as well as bullish sentiment among international investors toward the Chinese market, the administration said.

The scale of the country's foreign debt is reasonable while the structure has seen continued improvement, and the risk of foreign debt is generally controllable, the administration said.