REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- A leading lawmaker asks Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indarwati to change the strategy in state debt management to be clear.

"I have not seen the strategy in the government debt management that is in the state budget management. I hope Minister Sri Mulyani could explain in greater details about the strategy," Mukhammad Misbakhun of the Commission XI of the House of Representatives said after a working meeting between the commission XI and the finance minister.

The working meeting here on Monday discussed an agenda to evaluate state debts.

At the meeting Sri Mulyani said the government debts until end of June, 2017 totaled Rp3,706.52 trillion , or Rp34.9 trillion larger than a month earlier.

The state debt ratio to the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 27.02 percent by the end of June , 2017.

The government has set a target that the debt ratio is 28.1 percent by the end of this year or still safe below the maximum limit of 60 percent allowed by the law.

Misbakhun said, Indonesian state debt ratio may not be compared with those of advanced economies like Japan.

"There is still big risk although the portion of state debt held by domestic investors reached 62 percent. The point is the Minister made comparison only with state debts of G20 countries," he said.

He queried why only GDP is used as the parameter while the assets and foreign exchange reserves of the countries are different.

Japan and the United States no longer talk about GDP, but they use Gross National Product (GNP)instead of GDP, he said.

The Golkar party politician said even if Indonesia has been granted the rating of "investment grade" by international rating agencies it does not necessarily mean the country's economy and state debts are safe.

Holders of state bonds still see Indonesia in a weak bargaining position, he said.

Misbakhun then advised the finance minister to be more prudent in managing state debt by using the debt for productive sector.

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