Indonesia’s official reserve assets position stood at US$116.4 billion as of end-December 2016, higher than the end of November 2016 level registered at $111.5 billion, said the Bank Indonesia. The increase was attributable to foreign exchange receipts, primarily from the issuance of government global bonds, withdrawal of government foreign loans, as well as tax revenues and oil & gas export proceeds, that surpassed the use of foreign exchange among other for repayments of government external debt and Bank Indonesia foreign exchange bills matured during the period.
The reserve asset position at the end-December 2016 adequately covered 8.8 months of imports or 8.4 months of imports and servicing of government external debt repayments, well above the international standards of reserves adequacy at 3 months of imports. Bank Indonesia considers the position of official reserve assets is able to strengthen the resilience of the external sector and maintain the sustainability of Indonesian economic growth.