Bank Indonesia’s (BI) executive director of communications, Ramdan Denny Prakoso, said in an official statement on Thursday (17/4/25,) that Indonesia’s foreign debt (ULN) stood at USD 427.2 billion in February 2025, down USD 700 million from the previous month. The decline was driven by several factors, including the strengthening of the US dollar against most global currencies, including the rupiah, according to reporting from Tempo.
BI reported that on a year-on-year (yoy) basis, external debt grew 4.7 percent, but the growth was slower than the 5.3 percent increase recorded in January 2025. “This was due to a slowdown in public sector external debt growth and a contraction in private sector external debt. The February 2025 debt position was also influenced by the strengthening of the US dollar against most global currencies, including the rupiah,” BI stated.
Private sector external debt stood at around USD 194.8 billion in February 2025. Meanwhile, private external debt contracted by 1.6 percent (yoy), deeper than the 1.3 percent (yoy) contraction in the previous month, says Tempo.
The contraction was recorded in both financial corporations and nonfinancial corporations, which posted year-on-year declines of 2.2 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively.
By sector, the largest share of private external debt came from the manufacturing industry; financial and insurance services; electricity, gas, steam or hot and cold air supply; and mining and quarrying, together accounting for 79.6 percent of total private sector external debt.
Meanwhile, government external debt also declined. In February 2025, the government’s external debt was recorded at USD 204.7 billion, slightly down from USD 204.8 billion in January 2025. The year-on-year growth in government external debt was also lower than the previous month, says Tempo.
The central bank noted that the decline was partly due to a shift by non-resident investors from domestic government securities (SBN) to other investment instruments, amid continued global financial market uncertainty.
Source: Tempo
