BEIJING - The drop in China's outstanding foreign debt narrowed in the first quarter of the year, with improving structure and rebounding intercompany loans, data from the country's forex regulator showed Thursday.

The debt settled at $1.36 trillion by the end of March, down 3.6 percent quarter to quarter and retreating from 7.4 percent at the end of 2015, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said in a statement on its website.

Affected by lackluster foreign trade, the growth of China's external debt remained in negative territory.

But the structure has improved with falling short-term debt and rising long- and medium-term debt, and intercompany loans ended a losing streak with a 7-percent gain, SAFE said.

SAFE predicted the debt volume will trend stable and promised better debt management and strengthened supervision of capital flow.

A majority of the debt owed to foreign creditors resulted from short-term borrowing, while long- and medium-term outstanding external debt accounted for the remaining 38 percent, data showed.