RI'S DEBT RATIO TO DROP 30 PCT IN 2010: PRESIDENT

Jakarta, Aug 3 (ANTARA) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Indonesia's debt ratio against its gross domestic product was predicted to decline to 30 percent at the end of 2010, which would be the lowest debt ratio figure since the reform era.

"The decline in the government debt service ratio will further strengthen the fiscal resilience structure in line with the purpose of reaching sustainable fiscal resilience," the President said in his state-of-the nation address on the 2010 Draft State Budget and Financial Note before the extraordinary plenary session of the House of Representatives (DPR) here on Monday.

The president said that in the current global crisis, the government was fully determined not to use IMF funding assistance, like what it had done back in the 1998 crisis. It had endeavored to establish a standby loan arrangement, which was more dignified and yet ensures the national economic sovereignty.

He said that the policy of budget financing of 2010 was not only aimed at reinforcing the level of self-reliance and reducing the dependence on foreign financing sources but also at encouraging a prudent, planned, transparent, and accountable debt management.

The head of state said that in line with the financing needs, both from domestic and foreign sources, the government debt ratio vis-a-vis GDP at the end of 2010 was predicted to go down from around 57 percent in 2004 to approximately 30 percent6 in 2010.

"We should be relieved that this is the lowest debt ratio figure since the reform era," Yudhoyono said.

He said that decline of the debt ratio demonstrated the government's firm determination to build Indonesia to the maximum degree possible by using its own resources.

"Thus, one day, we will be able to say with pride to the successive generations, our children and grandchildren that we bequeath a nation endowed with a growing wealth, a more equitable prosperity and a smaller or, in fact, no debt at all," the president said.