JAKARTA -- Indonesian presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto said he was not worried about other countries' intervention regarding foreign debt because Indonesia has never defaulted on payments and is highly respected by other countries.

"I've traveled all over the world, they really respect Indonesia. We have never defaulted on debt, I'm very optimistic," said Prabowo in the third debate of presidential candidates for the 2024 election at Istora Senayan, Jakarta, Sunday (7/1/2024) evening.

Prabowo expressed this when answering panelists' questions about the risks of intervention from debt-giving countries. He emphasized that through strong defense, Indonesia will not be intervened by other countries.

Indonesia's foreign debt compared to national gross domestic product (GDP) is one of the lowest in the world. "We are at around 40 percent (debt to GDP ratio), while many countries are far above us," said Prabowo.

According to Prabowo, through downstream policies, Indonesia will gain benefits as a nation. By strengthening the domestic economy, continued Prabowo, Indonesia will be increasingly respected by other nations.

The Ministry of Finance announced that Indonesia's debt position until the end of November 2023 was IDR 8,041.01 trillion. This increased slightly compared to the previous month which amounted to IDR 7,950.52 trillion.

The ratio of foreign debt to GDP as of November was 38.11%. The government ensures that this ratio is still far from the provisions of Law Number 1 of 2003 concerning State Finance which requires the government debt ratio to be a maximum of 60% of GDP.

The Indonesian General Election Commission (KPU) has named three pairs of presidential and vice presidential candidates participating in the 2024 Presidential and Vice Presidential Election (Pilpres), namely Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar with serial number 1, Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka serial number 2, and Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud MD serial number 3.