RI's foreign exchange reserves at US$16.58b
RI's foreign exchange reserves at US$16.58b
JAKARTA (JP): The country's gross foreign exchange reserves
were US$16.59 billion as of March 31, down slightly from $16.6
billion as of March 13 and $17.07 billion on Feb. 16, Bank
Indonesia said yesterday.
Miranda Goeltom, the central bank's director in charge of
monetary and economic statistics and research, said the current
reserves were enough to finance non-oil and gas imports for 4.3
months.
That amount includes the disbursement of standby loans
totaling $380 million.
In addition, the country still had standby loans of $1.04
billion as of the end of last month, she said.
For the first time in two months, Miranda also announced the
amount of the country's net international reserves (NIR), which
stood at $13.18 billion as of March 31, up from $12.48 as of
March 13.
NIR excludes the central bank's gross liabilities or all
foreign debts which will mature up to one year, net forward
position or its forward transaction obligations, and foreign
exchange deposits of banks at the central bank.
In an unprecedented move, the bank decided in January to
include all foreign exchange assets available to the central
bank, including foreign exchange deposits by commercial banks and
export drafts, for the official record of its foreign exchange
reserves.
But the bank did not disclose its net international reserves
during February and March. These had fallen drastically to $14.03
billion at the end of January, from $16.43 as of Jan. 15 and
$24.56 at the end of last September.
On Feb. 16, BI recorded its NIR at $13.11 billion, and the
amount slid to $12.46 billion at the end of February, before
increasing to $13.18 billion at the end of March.
Below is the development of Indonesia's foreign exchange
reserves: (das)
Period Gross Foreign Assets NIR
(US$ billion)
------------------------------------------
End of 1993 18.82
End of 1994 17.42
End of 1995 17.79
End of 1996 25.53
1997
End of March 26.61
End of June 28.85
End of Sept. 27.56 24.56
Dec. 15 22.19 18.86
End of Dec. 21.42 17.60
1998
Jan. 15 20.39 16.43
End of Jan. 19.06 14.03
Feb. 16 17.07 13.11
End of Feb. 16.33 12.46
March 13 16.60 12.48
End of March 16.59 13.18