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