Dhaka, Feb. 8 -- Corporate external borrowing continues on downturn amid economic slowdown, in what is deemed a blessing in disguise as the loads of overseas debts on the economy also drop.

By official count, the stock of short-term overseas debts dropped to $10.13 billion in December.

Officials and money-market analysts see such continuous decline in private-sector foreign debts not a good sign for the private-sector-led economy as interest rates on the global market stabilising and there has been marginal easing of import compression on the domestic market.

Apart from prevailing energy crisis in the industrial hubs and depreciation of the local currency against the American greenback, the economic stalemate following recent mass upri...