JAKARTA. Bank Indonesia (BI) noted that Indonesia's Foreign Debt (ULN) in November 2023 rose 1.82% to US$400.9 billion compared to the position in October 2023 which was US$ 393.7 billion.

BI Assistant Governor Erwin Haryono explained that the increase in external debt was caused by public sector transactions and the weakening of the US dollar against the majority of global currencies, including the rupiah. "So, this has an impact on increasing statistical figures for Indonesian external debt in other currencies in US dollars," said Erwin in his statement, Monday (15/1/2024).

Erwin detailed that the government's external debt in November 2023 will be US$ 192.6 billion, up from US$ 188.3 billion in October. The government's external debt position in November 2023 grew 6.0% (YoY). The development of external debt, said Erwin, was mainly due to the increase in portfolio investment placements in the domestic and international government securities (SBN) market in the form of global sukuk.

Meanwhile, private external debt in November 2023 was recorded at US$ 196.2 billion, up slightly from the position at the end of October 2023 which was US$ 196.0 billion. Total private external debt in November fell 3.2% (YoY), while the decline in the previous month was only 2.3% (YoY).

The decline in private external debt stemmed from the increasing decline in debt from financial institutions (financial corporations), namely 6.4% (YoY), after only falling 2.4% (YoY) in the previous month. Meanwhile, non-financial corporations recorded a decline of 2.5% (YoY), after falling 2.3% (YoY) in the previous month. (AM/LM)