Control foreign borrowing

The currency crisis affecting the Asian region at present constitutes an interesting phenomenon. Its end effect is a swelling of the foreign loan burdens of the countries affected as a consequence of the shift in their foreign exchange rates. The problem which such a situation poses is obvious: even while they are producing nothing, companies are finding that their foreign loans have swollen, making the burden of punctual repayment all the heavier.

According to data compiled by the Indonesian Business Data Center (PDBI) Indonesia's foreign indebtedness up to the first quarter of this year totaled US$109.3 billion, $56 billion or 51.2 percent of which being private business loans.

Given those figures we are obviously apprehensive about foreign borrowing by our national private business sector. After all, the burden will be for all of us to bear.

In such a situation the government and our private businesses must be consistent in their efforts to try to restrain foreign borrowing. Left uncontrolled, our foreign loans -- particularly those belonging to the private sector -- will continue to bloat and affect our country's risk rating abroad.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta