Indonesia's Foreign Exchange Reserves Fall by US$2.3 Billion in March

Bank Indonesia (BI) reported that Indonesia's foreign exchange reserves stood at US$139.1 billion at the end of March 2022.

This figure is lower than the US$141.4 billion recorded at the end of February 2022, a decrease of US$2.3 billion or Rp33.12 trillion (using an exchange rate of Rp14,400 per US dollar).

According to BI, the foreign exchange reserves at the end of March were equivalent to 7.2 months of import cover or 7 months of import and government foreign debt payments. Therefore, Indonesia's foreign exchange reserves remain above the international adequacy standard, which is equivalent to 3 months of import cover.

"The decrease in foreign exchange reserves in March 2022 was influenced, among other things, by the need for government foreign debt payments," said Erwin Haryono, Head of BI's Communication Department, in a press release issued on Thursday (7/4/2022).

Indonesia's foreign exchange reserves peaked at US$146.87 billion in September 2021. Bank Mandiri economists projected foreign exchange reserves to be between US$147 billion and US$150 billion at the end of 2022, according to an analysis released on Thursday (7/4/2022).