Debt Service Ratio Reaches Alarming Level: Analyst
20 April 2015 19:00 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia's debt service ratio currently stands at 46.23 percent. This means that more than 46 percent of the annual export revenues are used to pay debts.
"The safe level is 33 percent," University of Indonesia economist Lana Soelistianingsih told Tempo yesterday.
As of February 2015, Indonesia's foreign debt amounted to US$298.9 billion. According to Bank Indonesia, the figure grew 9.4 percent compared to the same period last year, a deceleration from January's debt position which grew by 10.5 percent, year on year.
Bambang Prijambodo, the economic affairs' advisor to the National Development Planning Agency Ministry, previously said the government will prioritize on saving rather than adding the state's external debt; as a way to anticipate budget deficits as tax revenues did not reach the target.
"Foreign debt is not good for politics," he told Tempo some time ago.
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