TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Bank Indonesia or BI announced that Indonesia's external debt had declined again in August 2022. At the end of August, foreign debt stood at US$397.4 billion, down 4.1 percent from July's US$400.2 billion.

In a press release published Monday, October 17, BI spokesman Junanto Herdiawan said that on a year-on-year (yoy) basis, August's foreign debt is down by 6.5 percent.

For government's foreign debt, Junanto said, the amount in August was, US$184.9 billion, down 9.9 percent from the previous month and 10.9 percent lower on a year-on-year basis.

"The decline in the government's external debt was attributed to decreased loans and higher repayments compared to loan withdrawals to finance priority programs and projects," he said.

Meanwhile, the private sector's external debt in August was recorded at US$204.1 billion, down by 1.2 percent from July and lower by 2.0 percent, year on year.

Overall, Indonesia's foreign debt structure, based on the central bank's assessment, remains healthy. This is reflected in the country's debt-to-GDP ratio, which was maintained at around 30.4 percent, inching down from the previous month's 30.7 percent.

"In addition, the structure of Indonesia's external debt remains healthy, as indicated by Indonesia's external debt which remains dominated by long-term external debts that accounted for 87.1 percent of total external debt," Junanto said.

ARRIJAL RACHMAN

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