JAKARTA, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia recorded foreign debt of 411.5 billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter this year, down from 415.7 billion dollars in the previous quarter, Bank Indonesia said on Thursday.
Erwin Haryono, head of the Communications Department of the country's central bank, said this number decreased by 1.1 percent year on year, deeper than the contraction in the previous quarter which was only 0.3 percent.
"This development was caused by the decline in the position of the public and private sector's foreign debt," said Haryono.
Of the 411.5 billion dollars, 196.2 billion dollars were government foreign debt, 8.9 billion dollars were central bank debt, and 206.4 billion dollars were private debt.
The government's external debt contracted by 3.4 percent year on year due to factors including the tendency of high volatility in global financial markets that drove foreign investment in government bonds to other instruments.
Private foreign debt in the first quarter of this year contracted by 1.8 percent year on year as a result of foreign loan repayments and debt maturity. ■