Wed, 19 Aug 1998

Liquidity support to ailing banks falls to Rp 135.58t

JAKARTA (JP): Bank Indonesia's (BI) liquidity support to troubled banks under the supervision of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) declined by Rp 5 trillion in the week ending Aug. 14 from the previous week's level.

The central bank said in a statement yesterday that its net claims on IBRA as of Aug. 14 were Rp 135.58 trillion compared to Rp 140.72 trillion.

It said the decline was due to the Rp 4.9 trillion payment made by the ailing banks and a Rp 491 billion increase in their reserves at the central bank.

The decline in the liquidity support caused reserve funds to fall by Rp 997 billion from Rp 71.97 trillion on Aug. 7, it added.

BI said net domestic assets as of Aug. 14 were still below the Rp 65.22 trillion IMF indicative target although it had increased by Rp 1.07 trillion to minus Rp 67.78 trillion.

It added that net international reserves declined by US$173.2 million to $13.91 billion during the period, but were still above the indicative target of $13.38 billion. (rei)

Table A: Foreign Reserves (in million dollars)

July 31 August 7 August 14

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Gross foreign assets 19,527.4 19,403.3 19,260.7

- Liquid reserves * - - -

- Other reserves ** - - -

Gross foreign liabilities 4,896.4 4,896.4 4,896.4

Net forward positions 0.0 0.0 0.0

Reserve against

foreign currency deposits 433.3 425.4 456.0

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Net international reserves 14,197.7 14,081.5 13,908.3

* Liquid gross foreign assets include gold, foreign securities, offshore deposits and special drawing rights.

** Other gross foreign assets include export drafts, deposits in the branches of domestic banks in offshore and deposits parked at foreign banks to guarantee letter of credits.

Table B: Monetary Indicators (in billion rupiah)

July 31 August 7 August 14

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Reserve money 72,605 71,973 70,976

- Currency in circulation 50,117 51,954 51,418

- Deposits at central bank 19,483 19,080 18,573

Net international reserves

(Rupiah at constant rate) 141,977 140,815 139,083

(in million dollars) 14,197 14,081 13,908

Net domestic assets -69,372 -68,842 -67,776

- Net claims on government -55,206 -53,026 -56,223

- Net claims on IBRA 140,356 140,723 135,581

- Liquidity credits 19,380 17,638 17,624

(of which to Bulog) 7,669 7,669 7,657

- Open market operations -72,232 -71,161 -66,854

Source: Bank Indonesia