Indonesia Reports $2 Billion Rise in Forex Reserves

According to Investor Daily, on Tuesday, Bank Indonesia announced on Tuesday the countrys forex reserves stood at $139.4 billion in January, an increase of $2.2 billion when compared to December 2022.

“The increase in the foreign exchange reserves in January 2023 was propelled by governments global bond issuance and tax and services revenues,” central bank spokesman Erwin Haryono said in a statement.

Erwin said the reserves were adequate to meet foreign exchange needs for six months of import and the governments external obligations.

“Bank of Indonesia considers that the forex reserves are strong enough to provide resilience against external factors and maintain the macroeconomics and monetary system stability,” Erwin said.

Airlangga Hartarto, Indonesia's chief economic minister, said last month that foreign exchange revenues from export activities were being considered for holding in Indonesia's financial system.

The government is drafting a regulation to determine “how much, from what sector, and for how long” foreign exchange revenues can be kept in the country, Airlangga said.