Indonesia to Issue Global Bonds, OJK to Boost Issuance of Corporate Bonds
The government of Indonesia plans to issue (foreign currency-denominated) global bonds worth USD $10 billion to cover a shortfall in the 2016 State Budget. These global bonds would be part of a total of IDR 510 trillion (approx. USD $37 billion) worth of bonds that the government plans to sell in 2016. Scenaider Siahaan, Director of Borrowing Strategy at Indonesia's Finance Ministry, said about USD $4 billion of these global bonds are US dollar-denominated. For such bonds, the government usually appoints Bank of America Merrill Lynch, CIMB, Citigroup, and HSBC as book-runners.
Siahaan said the global bonds are expected to be sold in early December 2015. The government wants to speed up the offering of these global bonds as a looming Fed Fund Rate hike in December may make the bonds less attractive. In case US monetary policy makes the issuance of the bonds unattractive, then the government will postpone selling global bonds, Siahaan said.
Indonesia's global bonds are dominated by yen, euro, US dollar-denominated bonds as well as sharia-compliant bonds (Sukuk). However, the government is currently studying the issuance of yuan-denominated bonds. In August 2015, Indonesia’s Finance Ministry announced it considers to issue yuan-denominated sovereign bonds as it seeks to diversify financing resources while tapping lucrative markets and savings in China.
In 2015, Indonesia sold USD $8.5 billion worth of global bonds (to cover a shortfall in the 2015 State Budget), consisting of USD $4 billion US dollar-denominated bonds, USD $2 billion of global Sukuk, USD $1 billion of yen-denominated (samurai) bonds, and USD $1.5 billion of euro-denominated bonds. The government's budget deficit is estimated to reach 2.59 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2015, larger than initially expected (and coming close to the legal limit of 3 percent) as government revenue, in particular tax revenue, has been below target.
Meanwhile, Indonesian Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said the government is still watching the market and waiting for the correct timing to sell debt paper. Whether it will engage in front loading remains unknown.
Corporate Bonds Indonesia
It was also reported that Indonesia's Financial Services Authority (OJK), the government agency that regulates and supervises the country's financial services sector, may simplify regulations for the issuance of corporate bonds in a bid to cut costs, encourage more companies to collect funds from the debt market, and increase liquidity. Muliaman Hadad, Chairman of the OJK, said he frequently receives complaints from domestic companies claiming that the (administrative) costs involved in a bond issuance at the local exchange are high, hence making companies seek for bank loans instead. By making it easier to issue bonds, Indonesia is likely to see more bond issuances from firms that seek long-term funds for infrastructure projects. Aberdeen Asset Management is positive about simplifying regulations for corporate bonds issuances in Indonesia as the issuance of corporate credit taken in by investors was quite high, meaning there is demand.