Foreign exchange reserves fall to US$15.8 billion

JAKARTA (JP): The country's net foreign exchange reserves fell US$133.4 million to $15.8 billion as of Aug. 31, partly due to foreign debt payments.

Bank Indonesia said on Friday in its latest weekly report that the level of forex net reserves was still above the minimum target of $14.3 billion set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Gross foreign exchange reserves also declined 146.2 million to $26.8 billion.

The central bank said that the volume of primary money rose Rp 902 billion to Rp 78.99 trillion on Aug. 31 from Rp 78.08 trillion in the week ending Aug. 23.

The increase in primary money was partly due to payment of civil servants' salaries while the open market operation caused a contraction of Rp 2.3 trillion, the central bank added.

The debt payments and the payment of civil servants' salaries raised the central bank's claims to the government by Rp 5.08 trillion to Rp 128.34 trillion.

Net domestic assets, as a result, increased Rp 1.9 trillion to negative Rp 39.7 trillion. Although there was an increase, the level was still below the adjusted target of Rp 28.9 trillion. (hen)