ASEAN finances eroded by pandemic, stoking risk of currency slump

Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia resort to drastic measures to fund COVID relief

20210921N Jakarta

People outside a shopping mall in Jakarta in August. The Indonesian government that month entered into a debt-financing scheme with the central bank to keep the economy afloat. © Reuters

KOYA JIBIKI, Nikkei staff writer

JAKARTA -- Southeast Asian governments have increasingly turned to highly unusual measures to fund state coffers depleted by prolonged pandemic relief programs, raising the specter of a sell-off in the region's currencies.

Thailand on Monday decided to raise its debt ceiling from 60% to 70% of the real gross national product. Its economy has deteriorated after the government imposed tighter restrictions on activities in the capital Bangkok and other areas.

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