Indonesia: Forex Reserves up 13.6 Percent in January

• Feb 08, 2018

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Bank Indonesia (BI) said the national foreign exchange (forex) reserves at the end of January reached US$131.98 billion. The figure represents a 1.36-percent monthly increase from December 2017’s US$130.20 billion.

BI’s executive director for communications Agusman said the forex reserve increase was largely due to an increase in tax revenues and the government’s share of oil and gas exports.

The forex growth, he added, was also due to foreign loan withdrawals by the government as well as the auction results of BI Securities denominated in foreign currencies.

According to Agusman, January’s forex reserves can finance 8.5 months of imports, or 8.2 months of imports plus the payment of government’s foreign debt.

Earlier, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said Indonesia’s economy is improving, with forex reserves strengthening and budget deficit declining.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/news/2018/02/08/056915583/Forex-Reserves-up-136-Percent-in-January