​Indonesia’s external debt in February 2019 remains controlled with solid structure. Indonesia’s external debt at the end of February 2019 stood at USD388.7 billion, consisting of government and central bank debt of USD193.8 billion, and private includes state-owned enterprises debt of USD194.9 billion. The external debt position went up by USD4,8 billion since the last period explained by net withdrawals of external debt. Annually, Indonesia's external debt grew 8.8% (yoy) in February 2019 after recording 7.2% (yoy) in the previous month mainly due to an upturn on government external debt.

 

The Government’s external debt expanded in February 2019 to finance productive economic sectors. Its position was registered USD190.8 billion, with growth accelerating to 7.3% (yoy) from 3.9% (yoy) in the previous month. The growth was predominantly influenced by a deluge of foreign capital inflows to the SBN domestic markets during February 2019, reflecting strong investor confidence in the Indonesian economy. Moreover, the Government of Indonesia also issued Global Sukuk to support fiscal funding based on Green Bond and Green Sukuk Framework. The influx of government external debt provides greater opportunities to finance government spending and investment. Priority sectors financed through government’s external debt were productive sectors to promote growth as well as improving public welfare, among others, human health and social work activities sector, construction sector, education sector, public administration and defense; compulsory social security sector, and financial and insurance activities sector.

 

Private’s external debt had a stable growth in February 2019. The debt position amounted USD1.3 billion, secured a steady growth of 10.8% (yoy) compare to the last month growth. Private’s debt was mostly held by the financial & insurance activities sector, manufacturing sector, electricity, gas, steam & air conditioning supply sector, and mining & drilling sector. External debt’s share in those four sectors to total private’s external debt reached 74.2%.

 

Indonesia’s external debt maintained a solid structure.  This condition was reflected, among others, from Indonesia’s external debt ratio to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) posted at 36.9% at the end of February 2019, relatively unchanged from the previous month and still within the range of the peer countries average ratio. Furthermore, based on original maturity, the structure of Indonesia's external debt at the end of the reporting period remained dominated by long-term maturity debt amounting to 86.3% of the overall external debt. Thus, although the external debt has expanded, the structure remained solid. Bank Indonesia will continue to strengthen coordination with the Government to monitor external debt and to optimize the external debt’s role in supporting Indonesia’s development financing without incurring the risks that may affect macroeconomic stability.

 

The complete data on the latest Indonesian external debt and its metadata can be obtained from the publication of the Indonesian Foreign Debt Statistics (SULNI) April 2019 edition on the Bank Indonesia website. This publication can also be accessed through the Ministry of Finance website.