Government Debt Rises, Interest Payment Reaches IDR 69 Trillion

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Finance revealed that the realization of debt interest payments until February 2024 had reached IDR 69 trillion, an increase of 37 percent compared to the same period last year.

Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati said that the realization of debt interest payments increased in line with the increasing amount of government debt.

"So even though the yield is stable, the amount of our debt stock increases, the debt payment will be more," said Sri Mulyani in a working meeting with Commission XI of the DPR RI, Tuesday, March 19, 2024.

Sri Mulyani explained that the increase in debt was because the government needed large financing during the Covid-19 pandemic and was in the context of economic recovery.

"Even so, we will continue to maintain it with a fairly high debt stock, even though our yield is quite stable," he said.

According to Sri Mulyani, there is a potential for an increase in debt interest considering that financial market volatility is still quite high, thus encouraging an increase in yields from state securities (SBN).

For information, the position of government debt until January 2024 reached IDR 8,253.09 trillion. This figure increased by IDR 108.4 trillion, an increase of 1.33 percent compared to the debt position at the end of December 2023 which amounted to IDR 8,144.69 trillion. Meanwhile, the ratio of government debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 38.75 percent.