Purbaya on Panda Bond Rating: Some Say I'm Lying

Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa has revealed that some parties have accused him of lying about the AAA/Stable rating assigned to the country’s yuan-denominated bonds, known as Panda Bonds. “The rating is AAA, top-notch. But some say I’m lying,” he told journalists at the Juanda Building in Jakarta on Friday (24/7/2026).

The Indonesian government completed the issuance of the global debt securities denominated in the Chinese renminbi yesterday, Thursday (24/7/2026). In this inaugural issuance, the government released bonds worth CNY 7 billion, approximately Rp18.58 trillion (assuming an exchange rate of Rp2,655 per CNY) or around US$1 billion.

According to records from the Directorate General of Financing and Risk Management at the Ministry of Finance, Indonesia offered two tenors: a three-year tenor worth CNY 5.6 billion and a five-year tenor worth CNY 1.4 billion. Suminto, the Director General of Financing and Risk Management, stated that the Panda Bond issuance was oversubscribed by 2.4 times. The order book reached CNY 17 billion, with the three-year notes attracting CNY 12.38 billion in demand and the five-year notes drawing CNY 4.62 billion. The three-year bonds were priced with a yield of 1.90%, while the five-year bonds carried a yield of 2.19%. The settlement for the Panda Bond issuance is scheduled for 30 July 2026.