Moody's Investors Service has assigned a definitive long-term Baa3 rating to the US dollar trust certificates issued by Perusahaan Penerbit SBSN Indonesia III ("PPSI III"). The payment obligations associated with these certificates are direct obligations of the Indonesian government. The outlook is stable. Moody's definitive rating for this debt obligation confirmed the provisional rating assigned on 21 Aug. 2013. Moody's rating rationale was set out in a press release published on the same day. “In Moody's opinion, the payment obligations represented by the securities issued by PPSI III are ranked pari passu [equal with] other senior, unsecured debt issuances of the Indonesian government,” Moody’s said in an official release. “As such, Moody's Baa3 rating for the sukuk issuance is in line with the Indonesian government's Baa3 issuer rating and stable outlook given that any direct government obligation whose repayment is handled by the government receives a rating equivalent to that of the government.” Indonesia's sovereign issuer rating incorporates a moderate-to-high assessment of the country's economic strength that balances healthy growth performance against relatively low GDP per capita of US$4,636, relative to the Baa1-Baa3 median of $15,078. While real GDP growth came in above six percent for the third consecutive year in 2012, rising inflation, policy tightening and lower prices for Indonesia's commodity exports will weigh on economic growth in 2013. Nevertheless, growth is likely to be maintained above those of similarly rated countries over the medium term. Prudent fiscal management has contained budget deficits at low levels and has steadily reduced the government's debt burden as a share of GDP over the past decade. “As a result, Indonesia's fiscal and debt ratios are now more favorably placed than many of its higher-rated peers. Fuel subsidy reforms passed in June 2013, the first since 2008, addressed an increasingly large strain on the government's finances and will likely keep the fiscal deficit under the legal deficit cap of three percent of GDP,” Moody’s said. As the current account is now likely in a structural deficit, recent capital flow volatility has further weighed on the balance of payments and contributed to weakening the rupiah.