Indonesian Rupiah Rout Swells Cost of $304 Billion Foreign Debt
- Nation's offshore debts now triple its foreign reserves
- Private debt levels steeper than before Asian crisis
This article is for subscribers only.
Investors selling the rupiah on concern Indonesia will suffer a debt crisis risk a self-fulfilling prophesy.
The rupiah has slumped to its lowest level since the peak of the Asian financial crisis, when Indonesia was bailed out by the International Monetary Fund. Its nine-week decline is the longest since June 2004. That’s unfortunate timing for the nation’s government, banks and companies that owe a record $304 billion in foreign debt, almost three times the country’s $105.4 billion of international reserves, according to central bank data.