TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Bank Indonesia head of communication department Agusman revealed that Indonesia’s foreign debts during this year’s first quarter grew in a sluggish rate.

“This is caused by the foreign debts’ slow growth in the government and private area compared to the previous quarterly,” said Agusman in a press release on Tuesday, May 15.

He further revealed that Indonesia’s foreign debt in 2018’s first quarter amounted to USD 358.7 billion, which consists of USD 184.7 billion from the government and central bank. Meanwhile, the private sector recorded a USD 174.0 billion debt.

According to Agusman, the government’s foreign debt in the form of bonds or treasury notes (SBN) consists of Sovereign Debt Instruments (SUN) and sharia sovereign securities (SBSN) and foreign creditor loan amounting to USD 56.3 billion.

“The improvement is sourced from the issuance of a USD 3 billion global legal instrument,” said Agusman.

Meanwhile, the growth of foreign debts in the private sector has slowed down which is mainly affected by the ULN of the industrial processing sector and electricity, gas, steam, and hot water procurement sector.

The development of Indonesia’s 2018 first quarter foreign debts, according to Agusman, is still controllable which can be seen in the country’s debt ratio against the gross domestic product in the end of 2018’s first quarter. This face, he said, is much better compared to other developing countries.

ADAM PRIREZA