Indonesia Foreign Debt Drops to $413bn in January 2022

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Bank Indonesia at the end of January 2022 recorded that Indonesia’s foreign debt had slightly dropped from US$415.3 billion to US$413.6 billion compared to the previous month. 

The central bank’s head of communication Erwin Haryono said the reduction came from both the public sector (government and central bank) and private sector. "Annually, January 2022 foreign debt contracted 1.7 percent [year-on-year], which is deeper than the contraction from the previous month of 0.4 percent," Haryono explains. 

The government's foreign debt in January 2022 continued the downward trend since September 2021. The government's external debt position in January 2022 was recorded at US$199.3 billion, down again compared to the position of external debt in the previous month, which was at $200.2 billion.

This caused the government's debt to contract by 5.4 percent (YoY) more than the 3.0 percent (YoY) in December 2021. The drop coincided with several series of sovereign debt papers (SBN) maturing in January 2022, including SBN in USD.

"In terms of loans, a net decrease occurred in bilateral loans, in line with the repayment of loans to finance several infrastructure projects," he said.

He said that the government continues to commit to maintaining credibility by fulfilling obligations to pay principal and interest on debt in a timely manner, as well as managing external debt in a prudent, credible, and accountable manner.

External debt withdrawals carried out in January 2022 were still directed at financing the productive sector, and efforts were made to support the handling of Covid-19 and the National Economic Recovery (PEN) program.

Read: Q3 Foreign Debts Rise to US$395.6bn

MUTIA YUANTISYA