Press Rupiah turmoil, BI reveals foreign exchange reserves down 10 billion US dollars

Head of the BI Communication Department, Ramdan Denny Prakoso. (Photo: ANTARA)

Bank Indonesia (BI) provides an explanation regarding the position of the national foreign exchange reserves in response to the statement of BI Governor Perry Warjiyo regarding the rupiah exchange rate stabilization measures.

Head of the BI Communication Department, Ramdan Denny Prakoso, said that Indonesia's foreign exchange reserves at the end of April 2026 were recorded at US$ 146.2 billion.

According to him, this amount is still at a strong level and is considered sufficient to maintain the resilience of the external sector, as well as supporting macroeconomic stability and the national financial system.

"The reserve position is equivalent to about 114 percent of the size of the reserve adequacy based on international standards set by the IMF and reflects Indonesia's strong external resilience," he said in a written statement, Wednesday, May 19.

He also emphasized that BI continues to manage foreign exchange reserves carefully and measuredly to maintain the stability of the rupiah, maintain market confidence, and strengthen the resilience of the national economy amid high global uncertainty.

Previously, in a working meeting with Commission XI of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Perry Warjiyo revealed various steps taken by BI to reduce pressure on the rupiah due to global economic turmoil.

He said that the intervention carried out at this time was aggressive and carried out to the maximum and BI had increased foreign exchange interventions massively, both in the domestic and international markets.

According to Perry, the policy caused foreign exchange reserves to fall by around 10 billion US dollars.

However, most of the interventions are carried out through swap and hedging instruments so that the use of foreign exchange is not too large.

"So the decline in foreign exchange reserves of around 10 billion US dollars, this cash intervention is only partially, because most of the more than 2/3 is to swap the same hedging, so that this does not all drain foreign exchange reserves," he said in a working meeting with Commission XI of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Monday, May 18.

Previously, BI noted that Indonesia's foreign exchange reserves at the end of April 2026 were at the level of 146.2 billion US dollars or around Rp. 2,529 trillion with an assumption of a rate of Rp. 17,300 per US dollar or decreased compared to the position of March 2026 which was 148.2 billion US dollars.