BI: Indonesia's Foreign Debt Drops To IDR 6,213 Trillion In August 2023

JAKARTA - Bank Indonesia (BI) noted that Indonesia's external debt position at the end of August 2023 was recorded at 395.1 billion US dollars, equivalent to IDR 6,213.34 trillion (IDR 15,726 per US dollar). This amount is down compared to the position of external debt at the end of July 2023 which reached 397.1 billion US dollars or IDR 6,244.79 trillion.

Quoting BI data, Jakarta, Monday, October 16, the decline in the external debt position came from public and private sector external debt. With these developments, Indonesia's external debt experienced an annual growth contraction of 0.8 percent (yoy), deeper than the contraction in the previous month of 0.7 percent (yoy).

The government's external debt position at the end of August 2023 was recorded at 191.6 billion US dollars, down compared to the previous month's position of 193.2 billion US dollars, or on an annual basis growth slowed to 3.6 percent (yoy) from the previous period of 4. 1 percent (yoy).

The development of external debt was influenced by the shift in placement of non-resident investors' funds in the domestic Government Securities (SBN) market in line with high volatility in global financial markets.

The position of government external debt is relatively safe and under control considering that almost all external debt has long-term tenors with a share reaching 99.9% of the total government external debt.

Meanwhile, the position of private external debt at the end of August 2023 was recorded at 194.3 billion US dollars, down compared to the position in the previous month of 194.5 billion US dollars.

On an annual basis, private external debt experienced another growth contraction of 5.2 percent (yoy), continuing the contraction in the previous month of 5.5 percent (yoy).

The decline in private external debt was mainly due to the deepening contraction in external debt growth of non-financial corporations (nonfinancial corporations) to 5.1 percent (yoy) compared to a contraction of 4.3 percent (yoy) in the previous period.

Based on economic sector, the largest private external debt comes from the processing industry sector; financial and insurance services; supply of electricity, gas, steam/hot water, and cold air; as well as mining and quarrying, with a share reaching 78.2 percent of total private external debt. Private external debt also remains dominated by long-term external debt with a share reaching 74.9 percent of total private external debt.