Indosat to Decrease Dollar-Denominated Debts to 20 Percent

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Telecommunications provider PT Indosat Tbk (ISAT) Corporate Secretary, Harsya Denny Suryo, said that the company plans to reduce its' dollar-denominated debt ratio to 20 percent of the total - a move that is aimed to reduce the risk posed by the fluctuation of the Dollar against the Rupiah in the global financial market.

"Last year we managed lower the ratio to 24 percent - down from 50 percent in the year before that," said Harsya at the Ministry of State-owned Enterprises (SoE) Headquarters, on Monday, March 14, 2016, before explaining that despite the gains in the debt-front, the company's financial performance in 2015 was greatly impacted by the Rupiah's volatile fluctuations.

"We are releasing the company's financial performance figures for 2015 on March 24, 2016," said Harsya.

Based on the company's financial report for the third quarter (Q3) of 2015, Indosat is known to have booked Rp 1.12 trillion losses. In the same period in 2014, the company similarly incurred losses of Rp 1.41 trillion. That said, Q3 of 2015 is characterised by weak performances by telecommunications provider, as all providers - with the exception of state-owned Telekomunikasi Indonesia (TLKM), which managed to stay in the green by posting a 2.4 percent year-on-year profit growth, equivalent to a net profit of Rp 11.545 trillion - incurred losses. XL Axiata, like Indosat, also incurred losses of Rp 506 billion in Q3 of 2016.

Harsya hoped that the Rupiah would manage to hover around the Rp 13,000 per US Dollar mark in 2016 - as a stable Rupiah would translate to a better outlook for the company's books. 

FAIZ NASHRILLAH