Government Foreign Debt Again Surpasses Private Debt

Government foreign debt surpassed private foreign debt again from the beginning of 2017. Government foreign debt in December 2016 amounted to US$158.3 billion, while private debt reached US$158.99 billion. However, currently, the government's foreign debt is once again larger than private debt.

To finance development, government employee salaries, and other expenditures, government debt in April 2017 increased by US$9.59 billion (6.1 percent) to US$167.88 billion, equivalent to Rp 2,232.7 trillion, from its position at the end of 2016. Meanwhile, private foreign debt in April 2017 only increased by US$1.32 billion (0.83 percent) to US$160.3 billion, equivalent to Rp 2,132 trillion, from its position at the end of 2016. As a result, the value of Indonesia's foreign debt (government and private) in April 2017 reached US$328.18 billion, equivalent to Rp 4,364.8 trillion.

Indonesia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the January-March 2017 period was US$957.86 billion. Therefore, the ratio of Indonesia's foreign debt to GDP is approximately 34 percent. Meanwhile, foreign debt to exports is 172.2 percent.