Sri Mulyani Compares State Debts to Malaysia's, Japan's

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Finance Minister Sri Mulyani said during a meeting with the House's Commission XI at the Parliament Complex, Jakarta, Monday, November 4, that this year’s state debt had reached Rp300 trillion.

The ministry data showed that until September 30, 2019, the debt amounted to Rp317.7 trillion, up by 3.7 percent compared to the same period last year at Rp306.4 trillion.

Sri underlined that the government would further maintain the figure so that the ratio would not burden the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which ranged from 29.4 percent to 30.1 percent.

"Indonesia's debt [to GDP] ratio is smaller than Malaysia's debt at 50 percent and Japan's that reaches 200 percent to its GDP," said the former managing director of the World Bank.

She went on to say that her ministry was striving to conduct efficiency in the debt costs. The government’s debt procurement would be focused on the most competitive yields and costs of funds.

Additionally, the government would mull over debt productivities towards the global economy. The government, the minister added, would use more productive financial instruments such as Sukuk (sharia-compliant bonds) in a bid to support the development of projects that had the potential to bring maximum profit.

Sri Mulyani said that her side would maintain the composition of foreign currency and the debt under a controllable portion by prioritizing domestic funding sources and deepening financial markets. “One of the efforts that could be made is expanding the retail of the government's debt papers (SBN),” she said.

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