Alert! Economist reveals government debt is in an unsafe position.

Jakarta – Research Director for Macroeconomics and Fiscal Policy at the Center of Reform on Economic (CORE) Indonesia Akhmad Akbar Susamto said that the current swelling government debt is already in an unsafe position. Meanwhile, based on data from the Ministry of Finance, the position of government debt in May 2024 reached IDR 8,353.02 trillion.

Akhmad said that the ratio of government debt to income has now reached 300 percent. This figure is higher than the position on December 31, 2023 which amounted to 292.6 percent.

“The ratio of our debt to income has reached 300 percent, so every year in the APBN there is government revenue, it turns out that when compared to the total it is already far away. Where the debt ratio is three times greater than the revenue we have,” Akhmad said in the CORE Indonesia 2024 Midyear Review, Tuesday, July 23, 2024.

According to him, if viewed using several indicators such as debt service domestic government revenue, the position of government debt is not safe. However, when using the indicator of the ratio of government debt to GDP, the position of RI’s debt is still safe because it is still below the safe limit of 60 percent.

“So the position of government debt to income is certainly not safe because it exceeds the limits set by the IMF, for example in the range of 90-150 percent. We are already 300 percent,” he said.

Government debt as of May 31, 2024 has reached Rp8,353.02 trillion. Nominally, the government debt position increased by Rp14.59 trillion or 0.17 percent compared to the debt position at the end of April 2024 which amounted to Rp8,338.43 trillion.
Meanwhile, the ratio of government debt to GDP was 38.71 percent. This figure also increased from the previous month’s debt-to-GDP ratio of 38.64 percent. (*)

Editors: Galih Pratama