RI forex reserves fall to $14.62 billion

JAKARTA (JP): Bank Indonesia announced on Tuesday its net international reserves decreased US$126.8 million to $14.62 billion as of March 5 from the Feb. 26 level of $14.75 billion.

Gross foreign assets also dropped to Rp 24.15 billion from Rp 24.28 billion, the central bank said in its latest report.

The decrease was mainly due to repayment of part of the government's foreign debt, it said.

The central bank's net claim on the government also increased by Rp 895 billion to Rp 121.83 trillion.

It was attributed to foreign debt repayments and the imported wheat subsidy.

The central bank also reported a Rp 1.02 trillion ($117 million) increase in the net claim on the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) to Rp 7.02 trillion due to the additional disbursement of the central bank's liquidity support (BLBI) for domestic banks under IBRA supervision.

Bank Indonesia's liquidity credits (KLBI) increased by Rp 81 billion to Rp 20.35 trillion due to disbursement of subsidized credits for farmers and cooperatives.

Open market operations resulted in a contraction of Rp 1.1 trillion to minus Rp 61.59 trillion due to the reduced number of the central bank's certificates sold through market auction.

Net domestic assets increased by Rp 85 billion to minus Rp 69.71 trillion, still below the International Monetary Fund's adjusted target of minus Rp 58.5 trillion. (02)