GOVT CALLED ON TO REVISE ITS DEBT RATIO TARGET

Jakarta, Feb 27 (ANTARA) - The government, in this case the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas), needs to revise its debt ratio target previously set at 30.1 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), after it withdrew its debts through the issuance of global medium term notes (GMTN), a Bappenass official said.

"When our deficit financing increases, the debt ratio will also automatically increase and therefore there will be an increase in stocks as well," Lukira Dinarsyah Tuwo, Bappenas deputy for development funding affairs, said here on Friday.

The government has issued GMTN worth US$3 billion with a tenure of 5 to 10 years. Based on records by two GMTN agencies at home, Barclays Plc and UBS AG, the GMTN with a tenure of 10 years was sold at US$2 billion with a yield of 11.75 percent or 8.759 percent higher than the US notes with the same tenure.

In the meantime, the GMTN with a tenure of 5 years were sold at US$1 billion with a yield of 10.5 percent or 8.474 percent higher than the US notes.

The GMTN sales were lower than the previous government's target of US$4 billion. ***2***