Indonesia's External Debt Increased by 4% in February 2021

Indonesia's external debt (ULN) reached US$ 422.6 billion in February 2021. Indonesia's ULN position in February 2021 increased by 4% compared to the same period last year. This was driven by increases in both government and private sector ULN.

Bank Indonesia (BI) recorded that government ULN in February 2021 grew by 4.6% (yoy), higher than the previous month's 2.8% (yoy). Meanwhile, private sector ULN increased by 3.4% (yoy), higher than January 2021's 2.5% (yoy).

The increase in government ULN was aimed at addressing the impact of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic since 2020. Furthermore, the increase in ULN was to accelerate the vaccination program and social protection in Q1-2021. The growth in private sector ULN occurred due to corporate debt driven by the issuance of corporate global bonds in the mining sector.

Although increasing, BI assesses that Indonesia's ULN remains manageable. This is reflected in the ratio of Indonesia's ULN to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is in the range of 39.7%. The healthy structure of Indonesia's ULN is also evident in the dominance of long-term ULN, which accounts for 89% of the total ULN.