Whisnu Bagus Prasetya, Jakarta – Indonesia's external debt stood at $390.2 billion as of October, down slightly by 7.6 percent from the same month last year, Bank Indonesia reported on Thursday.

The October foreign debt is also $5 billion lower than the amount in September.

The amount of the government's external debt has been in a steady decline since March, totaling $179.7 billion in October from $182.3 billion a month earlier.

The reason for the declining trend is because the government bonds have been largely shifted to domestic markets amid highly volatile global financial markets, Bank Indonesia spokesman Erwin Haryono said in a statement.

In addition, the government's recent repayments have been bigger than the amount of new liabilities.

Erwin said the government's foreign debt is intended to finance productive sectors and national economic recovery programs.

Health and social programs took the biggest share of funding from the government's foreign debt, accounting for 24.5 percent, he said.

The education sector was the second-biggest recipient with 16.6 percent, followed by defense, government administration, and social insurance (15.3 percent), the construction sector (14.2 percent), and the financial service and insurance sectors (11.6 percent).

Erwin claimed the government's overall foreign debt remains manageable because long-term liabilities make up for 99.9 percent.

Corporation and private household debt was down by 3 percent to $202.2 billion year-on-year, also dominated by long-term liabilities of 75.2 percent.

The overall foreign debt is equivalent to 29.6 percent of the country's GDP.

Source: https://jakartaglobe.id/business/indonesias-foreign-debt-down-7