Indonesia's External Debt Falls to US$413.6 Billion at the Beginning of 2022

Indonesia's external debt (ULN) recorded a decrease at the beginning of 2022. Bank Indonesia (BI) reported that Indonesia's ULN in January 2022 fell to US$413.6 billion, equivalent to Rp5,938.4 trillion.

The ULN position in January 2022 also contracted by 1.7% compared to the same period last year (year-on-year/yoy). This contraction was deeper than the 0.4% contraction in the previous month.

The decrease occurred in the public sector ULN held by the government and the central bank, as well as private sector debt.

Government ULN Contracted 5.4% (yoy)

The Government's ULN position in January 2022 was recorded at US$199.3 billion, down from US$200.2 billion in the previous month.

This caused the government's ULN in January 2022 to contract by 5.4% (yoy), deeper than the 3% (yoy) contraction in December 2021.

BI noted that the decrease occurred due to several series of SBN (State Bonds) maturing in January 2022, including SBNs denominated in US dollars.

On the loan side, a net decrease occurred in bilateral loans, following the repayment of loans for several infrastructure projects.

Private ULN Contracted 1% (yoy)

Private ULN also fell compared to the previous month to US$205.3 billion in January 2022. Private ULN also contracted by 1% (yoy), deeper than the 0.8% contraction in December 2021.

According to BI, this development stemmed from the repayment of maturing private foreign loans during January 2022, causing the ULN of financial institutions to contract by 4.3% (yoy), deeper than the 4.2% (yoy) contraction in the previous month.

The decrease was also influenced by the ULN of non-financial corporations, which contracted by 0.1% (yoy) after showing positive growth of 0.1% (yoy) in the previous month.

Debt-to-GDP Ratio 34.1%

The central bank stated that the decrease in all ULNs made Indonesia's external debt structure remain healthy. With this decrease, Indonesia's ULN remained controlled with a ratio of around 34.1% of GDP, down from 35% in December 2021.