Indonesia's forex reserves stand at 144.9 bln USD in December 2021

JAKARTA, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) — Indonesia’s foreign exchange reserves remained high at 144.9 billion U.S. dollars by the end of December 2021, despite lower than 145.9 billion dollars in November 2021, the central bank said Friday.

The decline in the foreign exchange reserves in December 2021 was influenced, amongst others, by the need for the government’s external debt payment, according to Bank Indonesia’s Head of Communication Department Erwin Haryono.

The position of foreign exchange reserves was equivalent to finance eight months of imports or 7.8 months of imports and servicing government’s external debt, and well above the international adequacy standard of three months of imports, he noted.

Bank Indonesia considers that the position of the foreign exchange reserves was able to support the external sector resilience and maintain macroeconomic and financial system stability, Erwin added.

In the future, the central bank views that the foreign exchange reserves remain adequate, supported by the stability and solid domestic economic outlook, in line with the policy responses to stimulate economic recovery, he said.