Indonesia's Foreign Debt Reaches US$427.2 Billion In February 2025

JAKARTA - Bank Indonesia (BI) noted that Indonesia's Foreign Debt (ULN) position in February 2025 was recorded at 427.2 billion US dollars, or down when compared to the external debt position in January 2025 of 427.9 billion US dollars.

Meanwhile, on an annual basis, Indonesia's external debt grew 4.7 percent (yoy), slowing down when compared to growth in January 2025 of 5.3 percent.

Executive Director of the BI Communication Department, Ramdan Denny Prakoso, said that the development stemmed from the slowdown in the growth of external debt in the public sector and the contraction in the growth of external debt in the private sector.

"The position of external debt in February 2025 is also influenced by the factor of strengthening the US dollar currency against the majority of global currencies, including Rupiah," he said in his statement, Thursday, April 17.

Denny said that in February 2025 the government's external debt position was recorded at 204.7 billion US dollars, or down when compared to the position in January 2025 which was recorded at 204.8 billion US dollars.

Meanwhile, in the annual discussion, government external debt grew 5.1 percent (yoy), slightly lower than the growth in January 2025 of 5.3 percent (yoy).

Denny conveyed that the development of the government's external debt position was mainly influenced by the transfer of non-resident investor funds from domestic Government Securities (SBN) to other investment instruments in line with the high uncertainty of the global financial market.

"The government continues to be committed to maintaining credibility by fulfilling the obligations of principal payments and interest on time, as well as managing prudent and measurable external debt to get the most efficient and optimal financing," he said.

Meanwhile, the position of private external debt in February 2025 was recorded to be stable in the range of 194.8 billion US dollars.

Meanwhile, on an annual basis, private external debt experienced a growth contraction of 1.6 percent (yoy), deeper than the contraction in the previous month of 1.3 percent (yoy).

According to him, the development of private external debt comes from both financial companies and non-financial companies, each of which contracted by 2.2 percent (yoy) and 1.5 percent (yoy).

Denny said that the structure of Indonesia's external debt remains healthy, supported by the application of the precautionary principle in its management, this is reflected in the decline in Indonesia's external debt ratio to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to 30.2 percent in February 2025, from 30.3 percent in January 2025, and the dominance of long-term external debt with a share of 84.7 percent of total external debt.

Therefore, Denny explained that in order to keep the external debt structure healthy, Bank Indonesia and the Government continue to strengthen coordination in monitoring the development of external debt.

"The role of external debt will also continue to be optimized to support development financing and encourage sustainable national economic growth," he said.

According to him, these efforts were carried out by minimizing risks that could affect economic stability.