Indonesia mulls dollar bonds as Turkey crisis deepens rout

The dollar bond sale plan

JAKARTA: As a sell-off in Indonesian rupiah debt persists, the government is weighing a global dollar bond offering as an option to bridge the nation’s budget deficit, according to a finance ministry official.

The dollar bond sale plan “is in the government’s worst-case scenario” if domestic securities market continues to be volatile, Scenaider Siahaan, the ministry’s director of debt portfolio and strategy, said by phone on Monday. “That would be a conditional response. We will first assess the situation, whether or not things will turn for the better,” he said.