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Indonesia books US$360.7 billion in foreign debt in August
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A pedestrian passes the Bank Indonesia building in Central Jakarta. (JP/Wienda Parwitasari)
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ndonesia’s foreign debt – which includes debts from central banks, governments and the private sector – stood at US$360.7 billion in August, growing by 5.14 percent year-on-year (yoy), driven by growth in private sector debt amid slowdowns in government and central bank debt.
Bank Indonesia (BI) said in a statement that the structure of Indonesia’s foreign debt remained healthy as 86.8 percent of the debt had a long-term maturity period.
With the latest figure, Indonesia’s foreign debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio stood at 34 percent, relatively better than peer countries, said BI.
“BI and the government continue to coordinate to monitor the developments of foreign debt from time to time to optimize its role in supporting the financing of the developments without incurring risks that would harm the stability of the economy,” the central bank’s statement read.
The private sector’s foreign debt, which also includes debt from state-owned enterprises, was recorded at $179.4 billion, growing by 6.7 percent yoy in August compared to 6.49 percent growth in the previous period.
BI explained that the increase in the private sector’s external debt in August was driven by firms in the financial services and insurance, manufacturing, electricity and gas as well as mining sectors.
The government and central bank’s external debt, meanwhile, was recorded at $178.1 billion in August, growing by 4.07 percent yoy.
The debts increased on a monthly basis as a result of net loan withdrawal, including from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the purchase of sovereign bonds by foreign investors. (bbn)
