Economist at UOB Group Enrico Tanuwidjaja and Junior Economist Agus Santoso assess the latest FX reserves figures in Indonesia.

Key Takeaways

Indonesia’s foreign exchange reserves eased by USD4.9bn to USD139.3bn in May 2023. 

The latest reserve level was equivalent to finance 6.1 months of imports or 6 months’ worth of imports and servicing the government’s external debt, well above the international adequacy standard of 3 months of imports. 

Implementation of foreign currency monetary operation through export receivables’ placement in the onshore market (TD DHE) has succeeded in attracting USD752mn of foreign exchange in the first week of June.