TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesias foreign exchange reserves shrank US$2.8 billion to US$108 billion by the end of June, 2015, from US$110.8 billion a month earlier.
According to Tirta Segara, a central bank (Bank Indonesia) executive director, the decline was a result of foreign debt repayment by the government and the use of foreign exchanges to prop up rupiah,
Foreign exchange had been used to maintain rupiah stability at its fundamental value to support macro economic stability, Tirta said.
The remaining foreign exchange reserves are still enough to cover 7 months of the countrys imports or 6.8 months of import and foreign debt servicing, he said, adding it is still well above the international adequacy standard of around 3 months of imports.
"Bank Indonesia believes the foreign exchange reserves could strengthen external sector resilience and and sustain the countrys economic growth," he said.
By the end of May, the foreign exchange reserve fell US$100 million from 110.9 billion a month earlier.
The revenues form the sales of global sharia bonds helped offset the decline caused by debt repayments.
