Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The good news came from the position of Indonesia’s foreign exchange reserves which hit an all-time high at the end of last August. Not just setting a record, but far surpassing the previous record.
Bank Indonesia (BI) today announced foreign exchange reserves at the end of August 2021 of US$ 144.8 billion. Up US$ 7.5 billion from the previous month and became the highest record in the history of independent Indonesia. The previous record of foreign exchange reserves was US$ 138.8 billion, which was reached in April 2021.
“The position of Indonesia’s foreign exchange reserves at the end of August 2021 was recorded at 144.8 billion US dollars, an increase compared to the position at the end of July 2021 of 137.3 billion US dollars. The position of foreign exchange reserves is equivalent to financing 9.1 months of imports or 8.7 months of imports and payment of government foreign debt, and is above the international adequacy standard of about 3 months of imports. Bank Indonesia considers the foreign exchange reserves to be able to support the resilience of the external sector and maintain macroeconomic and financial system stability,” said BI’s written statement, Tuesday (7/07). 9/2021).
|
– – |
According to BI, the surge in foreign exchange reserves in August was due to additional allocations Special Drawing Right (SDR) of 4.46 billion or equivalent to US$ 6.31 billion received by Indonesia from the International Monetary Fund (International Monetary Fund/IMF).
SDR is a financial instrument issued by the IMF and can be used for financial transactions of its member countries. The SDR value itself is a combination of five currencies, namely the US dollar, euro, Chinese yuan, Japanese yen, and British pound, with different weights. The US dollar, as usual, was the biggest weight, followed by the euro and the yuan.
In its statement, BI said that in 2021, the IMF will increase the allocation of SDR and distribute it to all member countries, including Indonesia, proportionally according to their respective quotas. The SDR allocation is distributed to IMF member countries at no cost.
The IMF to date has SDR 660.7 billion or the equivalent of US$ 943 billion in total, according to the IMF’s official website. Of the total amount, SDR 456 billion was allocated and distributed starting last August 23. The allocation and distribution is said to be the largest in history.
The IMF said the allocation was aimed at supporting global foreign exchange reserves in the long term, as well as helping countries deal with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Without the SDR from the IMF, Indonesia’s foreign exchange reserves would still increase by around US$ 1.2 billion. A strong rupiah and skyrocketing commodity prices in August also supported the addition of foreign exchange reserves.
NEXT PAGE >>> BI Minimal Intervention, Commodity Prices Skyrocket
– .
