Foreign Exchange Reserves Indonesia Fall on Debt Payment & Rupiah Support

However, the rupiah has been under pressure amid the threat of looming further monetary tightening (higher interest rates) in the USA, a possible Greek exit from the euro, and Indonesia’s weak economic performance over the first quarter of 2015 (with GDP growth at a disappointing 4.71 percent y/y). So far this year, the rupiah weakened 5.9 percent against the greenback hence being one of the worst performers among Asian emerging market currencies.

Indonesian Rupiah versus US Dollar (JISDOR):

| Source: Bank Indonesia

According to the latest information from Bank Indonesia, the country’s total external (foreign) outstanding debt stood at USD $298.9 billion at the end of February 2015. Approximately 45 percent of this total debt (USD $134.8 billion) is government debt. However, 97.5 percent of outstanding government foreign debt is long-term debt.

Bank Indonesia stated that the country’s foreign exchange reserves at end-April adequately cover 6.9 months of imports or 6.7 months of imports and servicing of government external debt repayment. The central bank emphasized that this level is well above international standards of reserves adequacy at three months of imports.

Indonesia's Foreign Exchange Reserves 2008-2015:

	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015²
Foreign Exchange Reserves¹	51.6	66.1	96.2	110.1	112.8	99.4	111.9	110.9

^{¹ in billion US dollar
² at end-April 2015
Source: Bank Indonesia}

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