This country's gross foreign debt reached 11.689 bln euro in late-June, up by 1.213 bln euro from end-2003, the central bank reported on Tuesday. It now stands at 60.3% of GDP. The rise is due to external borrowing, at 1.16 mln euro, and fluctations in the exchange rates of the foreign currencies, which account for 17% of the debt increase. The bulk of external funding, 969.5 mln euro, was absorbed by the private sector. Of these, 554.8 mln euro went to the non-financial sector and the remainder were floated to commercial banks. In January-June this country repaid a total of 538 mln euro on its debt. The public sector covered 357 mln euro of its liabilities, of which 181 mln euro principal, while the private sector paid back 160 mln euro principal. In late June the public sector's foreign debt amounted to 7.325 bln euro (37.8% of GDP), while the private sector's debt added up to 4.364 bln euro, up by almost 30% from end-2003. The gross foreign debt is expected to shrink by some 600 mln euro following the Brady-bond repayments in July. However, the private sector continues to borrow extensively which may entail a lesser-than-expected drop, experts warned.