Ministry of Finance Responds to Fitch’s Downgrade of Indonesia’s Debt Outlook
The Ministry of Finance has spoken out on the assessment by the international credit rating agency Fitch Ratings, which downgraded Indonesia’s debt outlook from stable to negative on Wednesday, 4 March 2026. The assessment followed Fitch’s assessment process during a series of visits to Jakarta from 23 to 26 February 2026.
The Ministry says Fitch shifted the outlook from stable to negative due to several observations. Fitch would restore Indonesia’s outlook to stable if macroeconomic stability is achieved through consistent policy discipline.
“Indonesia remains on a positive path to strengthen medium-term growth and economic resilience,” said Deni Sujantoro, Head of the Communications and Information Services Bureau of the Ministry of Finance, in a press release on Wednesday, 4 March 2026.
Deni stated that the Indonesian Government remains committed to maintaining macroeconomic stability and continuing fiscal discipline, as mandated by law.
Other commitments include improving the business environment, among them through debottlenecking and deregulation to boost investment and growth, while strengthening structural reforms to enhance economic resilience.
According to Deni, the government will continue to enhance cross-cutting policy coordination between the fiscal and monetary authorities. Coordination is also conducted among ministries and agencies, including with Danantara.
Danantara’s governance and operations are maintained with measurable risk. “Thus Danantara becomes a credible, well-managed strategic investment instrument aligned with long-term macrofiscal stability,” said Deni.
Despite the downgrade, Indonesia’s actual debt rating by Fitch remains BBB. Fitch also provides an additional positive assessment on macroeconomics (Qualitative Overlay +1 notch). According to the Ministry of Finance, this positive assessment is driven by Indonesia’s growth prospects expected to be around 5 percent in 2026-2027. In addition, the assessment is based on the government’s debt ratio projected to around 41 percent of GDP.
Fitch Ratings conducted the assessment after engaging in assessments and discussions with several ministries and agencies, including the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, Bank Indonesia, BP BUMN, the Financial Services Authority, Danantara, and the Ministry of Investment and Investment/Coordinating Board for Investment.
Fitch Ratings has become the second credit rating agency to cut Indonesia’s debt outlook this year. In February 2026, the global rating agency Moody’s also lowered Indonesia’s debt outlook to negative.