Indonesia's Foreign Debt As Of April 2024 Becomes 398.3 Billion US Dollars

JAKARTA - Bank Indonesia (BI) recorded Indonesia's Foreign Debt (ULN) in April 2024 amounting to 398.3 billion US dollars.

This amount decreased when compared to the position of external debt in March 2024 of 404.8 billion US dollars.

BI Assistant Governor Erwin Haryono said that Indonesia's external debt on an annual basis recorded a growth contraction of 1.5 percent year on year (yoy), after growing by 0.2 percent (yoy) in March 2024.

"The decline comes from external debt in the public and private sectors," Erwin said in a written statement, Friday, June 14.

The government's external debt condition also continued the downward trend. In April 2024 it was recorded at 189.1 billion US dollars, or down when compared to the position in March 2024 of 192.2 billion US dollars.

On an annual basis, the government's external debt contracted growth by 2.6 percent (yoy), deeper than the contraction of 0.9 percent yoy in the previous month.

Erwin explained that the decline in the government's external debt position was mainly influenced by the adjustment of the placement of non-resident investor funds in domestic Government Securities (SBN) to other investment instruments in line with the increasing uncertainty in the global financial market.

Meanwhile, the condition of private external debt has also decreased. The position of private external debt in April 2024 was recorded at USD 195.2 billion, lower than USD 198.0 billion in March 2024.

On an annual basis, private external debt experienced a deeper growth contraction, from 1.3 percent (yoy) to 2.9 percent (yoy) in April 2024.

Erwin said that the contraction in external companies' growth came from financial companies and not financial companies (non-financial companies), each of which contracted by 5.7 percent (yoy) and 2.2 percent (yoy).

According to Erwin, Indonesia's external debt structure remains healthy, supported by the application of prudential principles in its management.

This is reflected in the ratio of Indonesia's external debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which fell to 29.1 percent in April 2024 from 29.3 percent in March 2024, and was dominated by long-term external debt with a share of 87.1 percent of total external debt.