Indonesia's Foreign Debt In August 2023 Down To 395.1 Billion US Dollars, Here's The Projection In The Future

JAKARTA - Bank Indonesia (BI) noted that Indonesia's Foreign Debt (ULN) as of August 2023 fell to 395.1 billion US dollars.

The position of external debt in August 2023 decreased when compared to the previous month which reached 397.1 billion US dollars.

Bank Permata economist Josua Pardede said the decline in external debt in August was dominated by a decline in external debt from the government side.

"This decline comes from the domestic SBN component. This reflects that there has been an outflow of foreign investors from domestic bonds," he explained to VOI, Monday, October 16.

According to Josua, the decline in external debt in August 2023, apart from the sale and purchase of foreign investors, was also caused by SBN which matured in August.

Based on data from SULNI, the decline in external debt from domestic SBN was recorded at 1.98 percent (mom) or equivalent to a decrease of 1.12 billion US dollars.

He said, the decline in external debt in terms of domestic SBN did indeed encourage a decrease in the contribution of foreign investors to SBN ownership in general, but sales actions from foreign investors tended to reduce the rupiah exchange rate.

Still, said Josua, external debt will tend to slow down in September because it is in line with net sell actions from foreign investors that continued last September.

Furthermore, Josua said, in the future private external debt will tend to be limited by considering the trend of global central bank interest rates which will still be maintained at a high level of at least until the first semester of 2024.