Government denies reports on offshore debts
Government denies reports on offshore debts
JAKARTA (JP): The government denied press reports yesterday
that Indonesia's offshore debt could total US$200 billion, saying
the amount was exaggerated.
Bank Indonesia said in a statement that the country's offshore
debt stood at $118 billion last September, consisting of $52.4
billion in government debt and $65.6 billion in private-sector
debt.
Meanwhile, rupiah-denominated securities held by nonresidents,
including Bank Indonesia Certificates (SBI), bonds, promissory
notes, commercial papers, certificates of deposit and medium-term
notes, stood at $15.3 billion as of September, down from $21.2
billion in June.
"These figures are taken from surveys of custodian banks and
have been synchronized with figures from the team from the
International Monetary Fund," Bank Indonesia director Boediono
said.
A researcher at Indosuez, Michael Taylor, was quoted by Kompas
daily as saying the government's figure was underestimated as it
did not include debt from commercial papers.
Taylor estimated that if debt from commercial papers was
included, Indonesia's offshore debt could be as high as $200
billion.
Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono questioned Taylor's
estimate, saying it was too large.
"You have to see where that number comes from -- I know it's
not that big. In a situation like this, you have to be cautious
before talking or writing something that is not too clear.
"I don't know what this estimate is based on and I don't know
where their responsibilities are," Moerdiono said.
The World Bank's country director for Indonesia, Dennis de
Tray, confirmed the government's figure yesterday.
He said that, based on currency-based measures of external
debt, Indonesia's foreign exchange-denominated debt was about
$117 billion as of September.
In addition, de Tray said the World Bank recognized there was
also rupiah-denominated securities held by foreigners and that
also constituted a type of obligation.
"The world is beginning to move toward what we call a
residency-based measure of foreign debt which included this debt,
but at the moment, at least by the World Bank's standard, we do
not include this in our standard debt numbers," de Tray told The
Jakarta Post.
Based on the World Bank's estimate, the rupiah-based debt --
the commercial paper debt -- was worth between $15 billion and
$17 billion.
"If you were to add the foreign exchange-based debt of $117
billion and roughly an additional $15 billion to $17 billion of
rupiah-based debt, it would arrive at a number for the total
external debt of Indonesia that would be between $130 billion and
$135 billion," de Tray said.
"This is much lower than the number which has been reported in
the press," de Tray said. (icn/das/rid/riz)