Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesia's combined foreign debt, includingboth government and private sector obligations, decreased to 395.1 billion USDin August from 397.1 billion USD the previous month, the central bankannounced on October 16.
On a year-on-year basis, the debt figure also showed aslight fall of 0.8%.
According to Bank Indonesia's spokesman ErwinHaryono, the government's foreign debt amounted to 191.6 billion USD, comparedto 193.2 billion USD in July, marking a 3.6 % reduction compared to the samemonth last year.
Erwin revealed that the government upholds itscredibility by consistently repaying both principal and interest while ensuringresponsible, efficient, and transparent debt management.
He said the foreign debt has been strategicallyallocated to support productive sectors and essential spending to sustaineconomic growth as 24% of foreign debt allocations weredirected towards the healthcare sector and social programmes, followed byadministrative spending, defence, and social security (18.2%), education (16.8%), construction (14.2%), and financial services and insurance (10.1%).
Erwin said the government's foreign debtremains at a "secure and manageable level," with the majority of thedebt being of a long-term nature.
Foreign debt from the private sector saw aslight decrease, reaching 194.3 billion USD in August, compared to 194.5billion USD in July. In comparison to the same month of the previous year, privatesector debt in August reduced by 5.2 %. The foreign debt now accounts for 29.1% of the country's gross domestic product./.
