The Jakarta Post
Indonesia’s foreign exchange (forex) reserves dropped US$9.4 billion in March to $121 billion as Bank Indonesia (BI) stepped up market intervention to stabilize the rupiah exchange rate amid heavy capital outflows, according to the central bank. Forex reserves have continued to decrease since February, when they dropped from $131.7 billion in January, the second-highest level in the country’s history. March’s figure is enough to support seven months of imports and payments of the government’s short-term debts and is above the international adequacy standard of about three months of imports. BI said the decline in forex reserves in March was due to payments of the government’s external debts and market intervention to stabilize the country’s currency amid “extraordinary conditions due to panic in the global financial mar...