Indonesia`s Reserve Assets Stand at US$126 Billion: BI

Indonesia’s forex reserve stand at USD 126 billion.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) – Indonesia`s official reserve assets stood at US$126 billion as of March-end 2018, still high though lesser than $128.06 billion recorded at the end of February 2018,Antara News reported.

“The reserve asset position was equivalent to financing of 7.9 months of imports or 7.7 months of imports and servicing of the government`s external debt, well above the international standard of reserve adequacy of three months of imports,” Acting Group Head of BI`s Communication Department Jumanto Herdiawan noted in a statement here on Thursday.

BI views that the position of official reserve assets can support resilience in the external sector and maintain macroeconomic and financial system sustainability.

The decline in reserve assets in March 2018 was mainly due to the use of foreign exchange to repay the government`s external debt and to stabilize the rupiah amidst increasing uncertainty in the global financial market.

Going forward, BI believes that the official reserve assets will remain adequate in line with continued confidence in the upbeat outlook for the domestic economy and positive export performance.

Meanwhile, BI had earlier reported that inflation of Consumer Price Index (CPI) in March 2018 remained within the targeted range.

The CPI inflation in March 2018 was recorded at 0.20 percent month-to-month (mtm), slightly increasing from 0.17 percent mtm in the previous month.

This increase is primarily attributable to higher inflation in the administered prices and volatile food than the previous month amidst the decreasing core inflation.

With such development, the CPI inflation until March 2018 was recorded at 0.99 percent year-to-date, or annually 3.40 percent year-on-year (yoy), increasing from 3.18 percent yoy in the previous month but still within the targeted inflation range of 3.5 percent, give or take one percent.

The controlled CPI inflation is supported by minimum pressure of the core group`s inflation.

Core inflation is recorded at 0.19 percent mtm in March 2018, lower than 0.26 percent mtm recorded in the previous month.

Realization of the core inflation is also lower than the average core inflation of 0.20 percent mtm in March in the last four years.

Main commodities contributing to the core group inflation are gold jewelry and non-foreman workers. (T/RS5/RS1)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)