Indonesia's Foreign Exchange Reserves Rise to US$146.4 Billion in December 2023

Bank Indonesia (BI) reported that Indonesia's foreign exchange reserves reached US$146.4 billion at the end of December 2023. This figure is higher than the US$138.1 billion recorded at the end of November 2023.

"The increase in foreign exchange reserves was influenced by tax and service receipts, as well as government foreign loan withdrawals," said Erwin Haryono, Assistant Governor of BI's Communication Department, in a press release on Monday (8/1/2024).

According to Erwin, the foreign exchange reserves are equivalent to 6.7 months of import financing or 6.5 months of import and government foreign debt payments. He continued that Indonesia's foreign exchange reserves are also above the international adequacy standard of around three months of imports.

Erwin stated that Bank Indonesia assesses that these reserves are sufficient to support external sector resilience and maintain macroeconomic and financial system stability.

He continued that Bank Indonesia anticipates that foreign exchange reserves will remain adequate, supported by maintained economic stability and prospects. This, he said, is in line with the policy mix response implemented by Bank Indonesia and the government in maintaining macroeconomic and financial system stability to support sustainable economic growth.

Over the past nearly four years, Indonesia's foreign exchange reserves have shown a fluctuating trend, as seen in the graph above.

The highest level of Indonesia's foreign exchange reserves in the past nearly four years was in September 2021 at US$146.86 billion, while the lowest was in March 2020 at US$120.96 billion.

Over the past year, the position of Indonesia's foreign exchange reserves at the end of December 2023 was the highest since March 2023, which stood at US$145.18 billion.