Indonesia overseas debt $61.04b at end 2005

JAKARTA (Dow Jones): The Indonesian government's overseas debt as of the end of 2005 totaled US$61.04 billion, equal to 22.7 percent of the nation's gross domestic product, Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani said Monday.

Of this debt, 43 percent was denominated in Japanese yen, 22 percent in U.S. dollars, 15 percent in euro and the rest in other currencies, Sri Mulyani said in a written report to be submitted to the Houseof Representatives.
"The government will continue to reduce offshore debt," she said.

Her report didn't mention the amount outstanding of overseas borrowing as of end-2004, but it did say the government's offshore debt level as a percentage of GDP has fallen significantly from 42.2 percent in 2004.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his predecessor Megawati Soekarnoputri promised to reduce offshore debts on rising pressure from many political parties here. Some of the parties have also urged the government to seek debt forgiveness from lenders.

The government last year borrowed $2.2 billion from offshore creditors, below its $3.6 billion target, Mulyani said without explaining why the borrowing was below target.

This year the government plans to borrow $3.5 billion from bilateral and multilateral lenders, including $1.5 billion from the World Bank-led Consultative Group on Indonesia, the report said.

Sri Mulyani didn't discuss in detail the government's domestic debt, which is estimated at $70 billion.

Source:
Dow Jones,
February 06, 2006