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Finance minister admits foreign debt increasing

Jakarta Post - February 21, 2017

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Jakarta – Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has said the government's foreign debt has increased over recent years, primarily due to continuous deficits in state budgets.

"The deficits have implications related to [foreign] debt," said Sri Mulyani while opening a seminar at the House of Representatives complex as reported by tribunnews.com on Tuesday.

Sri Mulyani further explained that state spending was higher than state revenues. The smaller amount of revenue collection was caused mainly by sluggish exports and the smaller amount of tax money received by the state, said Sri Mulyani.

Like it or not, the government has to cover deficits with debt. If it doesn't do this, the government could not finance its programs already listed in the state budget, she added.

As of December 2016, government debt had reached Rp 3,466.96 trillion, roughly Rp 301 trillion higher than the debt in 2015. (bbn)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2017/02/21/finance-minister-admits-foreign-debt-increasing.html.