"We will always try to make as minimum foreign loans as possible," National Development Planning Minister/Head of the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) Armida S Alisjahbana said following a meeting with visiting Dutch Minister for European Affairs and International Cooperation Ben Knapen here on Monday.
Armida said since 2010 the government had focused its financing priorities on ongoing activities as well as on new activities that had reached the final phase of preparation.
She said the Dutch aid commitment to Indonesia today was also not as large as those in the past.
"This is in line with Indonesia`s wish and plan to continue to reduce the amount of foreign loans in a concrete manner," she said.
Earlier, Bank Indonesia (the central bank) said the country should pay attention to the total foreign debts of the government and private sectors which tended to increase until the first quarter of 2011.
"Even though our economy is relatively stable and economic fundamentals are good, we must continue to observe our foreign debts by reminding business players of the need to manage their foreign debts carefully," Bank Indonesia spokesman Difi A Johansyah said.
Indonesia`s foreign debts until the end of the first quarter of 2011 reached US$214.5 billion, up by US$10 billion compared with the same period last year.
The foreign debts consisted of government debts totaling US$128.6 billion and private debts totaling US$85.9 billion.
By the end of December 2010, the foreign debts of the government and private sectors respectively reached US$118.6 billion and US$83.8 billion.
The foreign debts of the private sector in the four months through April consisted of US$72.5 billion incurred by non-bank institutions and US$13.4 billion by banks.
The country`s debt-to-GDP ratio currently reaches 28.2 percent compared to 151.2 percent in the 1997/1998 period, while the ratio of short-term debts to foreign exchange reserves currently stands at42.6 percent compared to 142.7 percent in the 1997/1998 period.
(Uu.S012/HAJM/F001)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
