Nia Deviyana
The withdrawal of government external debt in the reporting period was prioritized to finance productive sectors and priority expenditures, specifically to maintain national economic recovery momentum against global economic uncertainty.
“The Government remains firmly committed to maintaining prudential, efficient, and accountable external debt management, as well as preserving credibility in promptly servicing principal and interest payments,” said Bank Indonesia (BI) Comunication Department Executive Dircetor Erwin Haryono in a press release on Monday (15/5/2023).
By sector, government external debt encompasses human health and social activities (24.1% of total government external debt), public administration, defence and compulsory social security (17.9%), education (16.8%), construction (14.2%), as well as insurance and financial services (10.2%), amongst others.
“The current position of government external debt is considered safe and manageable, with 99.9% of total government external debt dominated by long-term maturities,” he stated.
Private external debt also recorded a contraction and further decline. The position of private external debt contracted 3.0% (yoy) to USD199.4 billion in the first quarter of 2023 after contracting 1.7% (yoy) in the previous period.
