Indonesia's government debt is on the safe side. Moody's noted that government debt of other countries with a Baa3 rating averages around 42 percent of GDP. As such, Indonesia's 26.8 percent of GDP debt position is labelled moderate.

However, as nearly half of Indonesia's total debt is denominated in foreign currencies (especially US dollar and Japanese yen), Moody's expressed its concern even though the Indonesian rupiah rate has stabilized this year (after having depreciated sharply between mid-2013 and the end of 2015 due to monetary tightening in the USA). More than 38 percent of Indonesian government bonds are in the hands of foreign investors.

Regarding Indonesia's corporate debt, the debt level has grown by 11.3 percentage points from 12.4 percent of GDP in 2010 to 23.7 percent of GDP in 2016. Most of additional debt that was taken up by companies after 2010 consists of foreign debt. In case the rupiah comes under severe pressure again it raises chances of defaults for Indonesian companies.

Moody's stated that recent Indonesian defaults that occurred were caused by the rising cost of servicing foreign debts as well as sluggish US dollar income due to low commodity prices. Some notable examples of Indonesian companies that defaulted in recent years include Trikomsel, Berau Coal Energy and Bumi Resources.

Indonesia's Foreign Debt - 2016:

2016     Public Debt
    Private Debt      Total Debt
January     $143.4 billion     $164.6 billion     $308.0 billion
February     $146.9 billion     $164.6 billion     $311.5 billion

Indonesia's Foreign Debt - 2015:

2015     Public Debt
    Private Debt      Total Debt
January     $135.7 billion     $162.9 billion     $298.6 billion
February     $134.8 billion     $164.1 billion     $298.9 billion
March     $132.8 billion     $165.3 billion     $298.1 billion
April     $132.9 billion     $167.2 billion     $300.1 billion
May     $133.5 billion     $168.7 billion     $302.3 billion
June     $134.6 billion     $169.7 billion     $304.3 billion
July     $134.5 billion     $169.2 billion     $303.7 billion
August     $134.0 billion     $169.3 billion     $303.2 billion
September     $134.2 billion     $168.2 billion     $302.4 billion
October     $136.6 billion     $167.5 billion     $304.1 billion
November     $137.7 billion     $166.8 billion     $304.6 billion
December     $143.0 billion     $167.7 billion     $310.7 billion

Indonesia's Foreign Debt - 2014:

2014     Public Debt
    Private Debt      Total Debt
January     $127.9 billion     $141.4 billion     $269.3 billion
February     $129.0 billion     $143.1 billion     $272.1 billion
March     $130.5 billion     $146.0 billion     $276.5 billion
April     $131.0 billion     $145.6 billion     $276.6 billion
May     $132.2 billion     $151.5 billion     $283.7 billion
June     $131.7 billion     $153.2 billion     $284.9 billion
July     $134.2 billion     $156.4 billion     $290.6 billion
August     $134.2 billion     $156.2 billion     $290.4 billion
September     $132.9 billion     $159.3 billion     $292.3 billion
October     $133.2 billion     $161.3 billion     $294.5 billion
November     $133.9 billion     $160.5 billion     $294.4 billion
December     $129.7 billion     $162.8 billion     $292.6 billion

Source: Bank Indonesia

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