Indonesian Bond Market Still Promising

TEMPO Interactive, Denpasar: It is predicted that the Indonesian bond market will be promising throughout this year.This is despite the fact that the bond market was disturbed by the United States subprime mortgage crisis. According to the Surabaya Stock Exchange Director, Guntur Pasaribu, now the negative sentiments have passed.He stated that the Indonesian bonds sector prospect can be seen from the large amount of public funds that can be acquired. Up to June 2007, the public fund is estimated to total Rp1,400 trillion.As regards banking credit, it only reached Rp850 trillion. “This means there is still a potential of Rp550 trillion fund that can be worked on by bonds issuers,” Guntur told reporters during the “Surabaya Stock Exchange Press Gathering” event in Denpasar, Saturday (1/9).The potential of the bond market in Indonesia, said Guntur, can also be seen from the growing portion of foreign ownership in state bonds. In July 2007, foreign ownership reached Rp78.45 trillion, far higher than July 2006, Rp55.4 trillion. “This shows that Indonesian bonds have been included in investment instrument radar for foreign investors,” he said.As regards the program of the Third Indonesian Retail Bonds (ORI 003) offering , Guntur is optimistic that the bonds will be salable. According to him, the interest rate offered by ORI 003, 9.4 percent, is interesting and beneficial compared to other investment instruments such as deposit and Bank Indonesia Certificate (SBI).The government plans to issue ORI 003 again. Director General of Loan Management at the Finance Department, Rahmat Waluyanto, said that during the third time issuing, the government offers 9.4 percent coupon. The ORI 003 coupon is a little more interesting compared to ORI 002, which offers 9.28 percent coupon.SETRI YASRA