Hendartyo Hanggi, Jakarta – Indonesia's foreign debt by the end of the second quarter (Q2) amounted to 403 US dollars, which is a reduction compared to the previous quarter which logged 412.6 US dollars.

"This development was caused by a decline in the external debt position of the public sector (the Government and the Central Bank) and the private sector," said Head of the Communications Department of Bank Indonesia Erwin Haryono on Monday, August 15.

On an annual basis, foreign debt in the second quarter of 2022 contracted by 3.4 percent. This position is deeper than the contraction in the previous quarter which was 0.9 percent year on year.

The government's foreign debt position in the second quarter of 2022 was recorded at US$187.3 billion, down from the position of external debt in the previous quarter of US$196.2 billion. On an annual basis, the Government's external debt contracted by 8.6 percent, deeper than the contraction in the previous quarter of 3.4 percent (yoy).

The government's foreign debt fell due to the repayment of bilateral, commercial, and multilateral loans maturing during the period from April to June 2022. The repayment of maturing domestic government securities (SBN) also contributed to the decline in external debt last quarter.

Bank Indonesia stated that Indonesia's external debt in the second quarter of 2022 remained under control. This condition is reflected in the ratio of Indonesia's external debt to gross domestic product (GDP) which was maintained at around 31.8 percent and decreased compared to the ratio in the previous quarter of 33.8 percent.

In addition, the structure of Indonesia's external debt remains healthy, as indicated by Indonesia's external debt which is dominated by long-term external debt with a share of 86.7 percent of total foreign debt.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1622907/indonesias-foreign-debt-drops-to-usd-403-billio