Whoops... Secretly Withdraw Taxes To Make Foreign Exchange Reserves Soar

JAKARTA - Bank Indonesia (BI) reported that there had been an increase in Indonesia's foreign exchange reserves at the end of February 2023. Head of the BI Communications Department Erwin Haryono said that until last month foreign exchange reserves amounted to US$ 140.3 billion.

"This number has increased compared to the position at the end of January 2023 of 139.4 billion US dollars. The increase in the position of foreign exchange reserves in February 2023 was influenced, among other things, by tax revenues and withdrawals of government foreign loans," he said in a written statement on Tuesday, March 7.

Erwin explained that the position of foreign exchange reserves is equivalent to financing 6.2 months of imports or 6.0 months of imports and payment of government foreign debt.

He ensured that the foreign payment instruments owned by Indonesia were above the international adequacy standard of around 3 months of imports.

"Bank Indonesia assesses that foreign exchange reserves are able to support the resilience of the external sector and maintain macroeconomic and financial system stability," he said.

Erwin added that in the future Bank Indonesia views foreign exchange reserves as adequate, supported by stability and maintained economic prospects.

"This is in line with various policy responses in maintaining macroeconomic and financial system stability to support the national economic recovery process," he concluded.