RI's gross forex assets total $20.39b
RI's gross forex assets total $20.39b
JAKARTA (JP): Bank Indonesia, the central bank, announced
yesterday that the country's gross foreign assets totaled
US$20.39 billion as of Jan. 15, down from $27.56 billion as of
last September.
This was the first time the central bank defined the country's
official foreign reserves as gross foreign assets, or simply
called foreign assets -- the net amount of foreign currency
assets available to the central bank.
Previously the official foreign exchange reserves reported by
the central bank did not include foreign exchange deposited by
commercial banks as a compulsory foreign exchange reserve
requirement or export drafts.
Bank Indonesia director Miranda S. Gultom said in a statement
that the inclusion of all foreign exchange assets available to
the central bank for the country's foreign exchange reserves was
in accordance with international practices.
"As already known, gross foreign assets are foreign exchange
reserves based on an internationally practiced concept of the
IMF's SDDS (Special Data Dissemination Standards), which
Indonesia also follows," Miranda said.
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Miranda
said, foreign exchange reserves were foreign exchange assets
available to the monetary authority.
Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad said late last year at a
hearing with the House of Representatives Commission VIII for
state budget and finance that the government deliberately did not
include $5 billion of the country's foreign assets in the
reported official foreign exchange reserves because of prudential
considerations.
He said the $5 billion in assets, which were not reported by
the central bank, were mostly illiquid assets, such as bonds and
T-bills.
The country's $5 billion in assets was revealed to the public
when the IMF announced last October that the $23 billion first-
line bailout package arranged for Indonesia included $5 billion
in Indonesian foreign assets.
Australian economist Ross H. McLeod recently criticized such a
policy.
McLeod argued that since confidence in the rupiah depended
partly on the level of Indonesian foreign reserves, the central
bank's policy of hiding some reserves from the public's view
might also have contributed to speculation.
The following is the development of the country's gross
foreign assets and official foreign exchange reserves (rid):
Period Gross foreign assets Official reserves
(all figures in millions of U.S. dollars)
-----------------------------------------------------------
End of Dec. 1993 18,823.0 12,352.2
End of Dec. 1994 17,415.8 13,157.9
End of Dec. 1995 18,786.5 14,674.2
End of Dec. 1996 25,528.6 19,125.0
1997
End of March 26,611.5 19,872.5
End of June 28,854.2 21,083.7
End of Sept. 27,558.6 20,523.5
Dec. 15 22,194.4 18,010.0
End of Dec. 21,418.2 17,427.2
1998
Jan. 15 20,385.7