Forex Reserves Declining
10 August 2015 14:00 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Bank Indonesia noted that Indonesia's foreign exchange reserves as of July 2015 amounted to US$107.6 billion. The figure is down when compared to the previous month's US$ 108 billion.
The decline in forex reserves is caused by increased spending, one of them for the payment of government's debt denominated in US dollars, which skyrocketed due to the rupiah correction.
Last week, the rupiah was traded low at the Jakarta Interbank Spot Rate (JISDOR) for at Rp13,536 per dollar, down from mid-July's average of Rp13,329 per US dollar. In The rate is much higher than the 2015 Amended State Budget assumption, which was pegged at Rp12,500 per US dollar.
Tirta Segara, Bank Indonesia's (BI) executive director for communications, last week said that July's forex reserve was still enough to cover 6.8 months of imports and government foreign debt payments. He also said the reserve was above the international adequacy standards, which states that a country's forex reserve must be sufficient to cover approximately three months of import.
Tirta also said that foreign exchange earnings from the issuance of Indonesia's Euro Bond will be able to withstand further declines.
ANDI RUSLI