Not Fitch and Moody's, Purbaya Reveals SBN Yields Rise Owing to War

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa has said that the downgrade of Indonesia’s debt outlook by rating agencies such as Fitch and Moody’s does not significantly pressurise Indonesian government bond yields.

He said that after the two credit rating agencies downgraded Indonesia’s debt outlook from stable to negative, the effect on yield pressure for the 10-year benchmark sovereign bonds was only 2 basis points, or 0.02 percentage points.

‘If the outlook alone doesn’t have much impact. If I’m not mistaken, it was an increase of 2 bps for the 10-year bonds,’ Purbaya said at his office in Jakarta on Friday (6 March 2026).

The pressure on yields was much larger when the Iran–U.S.–Israel war erupted. When that conflict began, the 10-year SBN yield rose by 30 basis points, i.e., 0.3%.

‘When there is war-related disruption that causes a rise of 30 basis points,’ he said.

Despite yield pressure, Purbaya said the government remains able to manage government bond yields by controlling domestic liquidity. This, he argued, keeps pressure in the SBN market from being high so far.

‘The finance ministry will manage its cash to ensure liquidity in the market is adequate,’ he said.

Nevertheless, it is important to note that the yield on Indonesian government bonds (SBN) for the 10-year tenor touched the highest level in six months. This occurred amid rising selling pressure in the market amid elevated tensions in the Middle East.

Based on Refinitiv data, Indonesia’s 10-year SBN yield closed at 6.552% on Tuesday 4 March 2026, up from 6.478% in the previous session, a rise of about 7.4 basis points in a single day.

The Tuesday close was also the highest since August 2025, i.e., in six months.

Looking further back, pressure is also visible against last week’s close. On Friday 27 February 2026, the 10-year SBN yield was at 6.411%. In just the first two trading sessions of the week, yields had risen about 14.1 basis points.

The rise in yields reflects falling bond prices, indicating that investors tend to unwind holdings of government securities amid rising risk.