JAKARTA - Public and private sector external debt (ULN) each decreased in February 2023, which had implications for a 3.7% decrease in Indonesia's external debt to US$ 400.1 billion from January 2023 of US$ 404.6 billion.

In a press release quoted on Friday (14/4), Erwin Haryono, Executive Director of the Department of Communication (BI) said that Public Debt (Government and Central Bank) was recorded at US$ 201.54 billion, down from US$ 203.63 billion. Government external debt was recorded at US$ 192.3 billion as of February 2023, down from January 2023 of US$ 194.3 billion and Central Bank external debt of US$ 9.2 billion, lower than US$ 9.34 billion in January 2023.

Private external debt fell in February 2023 to US$ 198.6 billion from January 2023 which was recorded at US$ 201 billion. Private external debt consisted of US$ 39.5 billion for financial institutions, lower than US$ 39.9 billion and US$ 159.08 billion for non-financial institutions, down from US$ 161.03 billion.

According to Haryono, Indonesia's external debt remains under control, which is reflected in the ratio of external debt to gross domestic product (GDP) at around 29.9%, down from the ratio of Indonesia's external debt to GDP in January 2023 of around 30.3%. The structure of Indonesia's external debt is dominated by long-term external debt, around 87.6% of the total external debt. (LK/LM)