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Indonesia allocates 10% of 2017 spending to pay down debt
cdThe government and the House of Representatives have allocated Rp 221 trillion (US$17 billion) in the 2017 state budget, or 10.6 percent of total state spending, to pay down the national debt.
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Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati (left) and director general of taxation Ken Dwijugieasteadi attend a meeting with House of Representatives Commission XI in Jakarta on Oct. 12. (Antara Photo/M Agung Rajasa)
T
he government and the House of Representatives have allocated Rp 221 trillion (US$17 billion) in the 2017 state budget, or 10.6 percent of total state spending, to pay down the national debt.
Most of the money will be allocated to pay down domestic debt, by Rp 205.4 trillion. The remaining Rp 15.7 trillion will pay down foreign debt, said House of Representatives budget committee (Banggar) chairman Kahar Muzakir.
"Thus, the allocation for debt management reaches Rp 221 trillion," he said after a plenary meeting in Jakarta as quoted by kompas.com on Wednesday.
Kahar further added that debt was still among the main sources of funds for 2017, especially to cover the 2.41 percent budget deficit set for 2017, worth some Rp 330 trillion.
Previously, the government acknowledged that the new debts it had taken on were mostly used to refinance existing matured ones, leaving only a few portions to be used for productive spending.
Robert Pakpahan, the Finance Ministry's financing and risk management director general, said in August the country would see higher interest payments in 2017 to around Rp 210 trillion, up by Rp 30 trillion from this year’s payments totaling Rp180 trillion.
Indonesian government debt is currently Rp 3.4 quadrillion in total. (ags)
