RI's reserves at $16.6b

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's foreign exchange reserves stood at US$16.599 billion as of March 13, 1998, or equivalent to four months of non-oil and gas imports, Bank Indonesia said yesterday.

Bank Indonesia director for monetary and economic statistics and research, Miranda S. Gultom, announced yesterday that March 13's reserves were 1.6 percent higher than the amount recorded at the end of February but 2.8 percent lower than that on Feb. 16.

"The rise of foreign exchange reserves, compared to the amount at the end of February, is, among others, due to the withdrawal of standby loans amounting to $444 million during this period," Miranda said.

She added that as of March 13, Bank Indonesia still maintained additional standby loans of $1.43 billion at various international commercial banks.

In January, Bank Indonesia for the first time decided to include all foreign exchange assets available to the central bank, including foreign exchange deposits by commercial banks and export drafts, in official foreign exchange reserves.

Miranda said most of Indonesia's gross foreign assets were liquid assets. (rid)