Indonesia owes $17.28 billion ¡®hidden debt¡¯ to China: Study

2021.10.12 09:41:40

President Joko ¡°Jokowi¡± Widodo (left) shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping (right) during the G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan, in June 2019.(Presidential Palace Press Bureau/Laily Rachev)À̹ÌÁö È®´ë

President Joko ¡°Jokowi¡± Widodo (left) shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping (right) during the G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan, in June 2019.(Presidential Palace Press Bureau/Laily Rachev)

Indonesia owes US$17.28 billion in ¡°hidden debt¡± to China, more than four times its $3.90 billion in reported sovereign debt, a recent study has found, suggesting a gross underreporting of the country¡¯s liabilities to the Asian economic powerhouse. The study, conducted by AidData, an international development research lab based at the College of William & Mary in the United States, notes that rather than being contracted with or formally guaranteed by the central government, the hidden debt has been issued to state-owned enterprises (SOEs), largely to fund projects under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The debts do not appear on the government¡¯s balance sheet, but if the borrowing companies default or go bankrupt, the government will likely face pressure to bail them out, warns AidData.

https://www.thejakartapost.com/academia/2021/09/16/garudas-dwindling-options.html

By Jakarta Post

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