Meanwhile, these above-mentioned receipts surpassed uses of foreign exchange - primarily for repayments of public foreign debt and maturing Bank Indonesia foreign exchange bills - and therefore a new record-high could be achieved in September 2017.

Bank Indonesia stated that the nation's foreign exchange reserves position at end-September 2017 can adequately cover 8.9 months of imports or 8.6 months of imports and servicing of government external debt repayments, which is well above the international standards of reserve adequacy at three months of imports.

Foreign Exchange Reserves Indonesia:

   2008  2009
 2010  2011  2012  2013  2014  2015  2016
Foreign Exchange
Reserves¹
 51.6  66.1  96.2 110.1 112.8  99.4 111.9 105.9 111.5

¹ in billion USD dollar
Source: Bank Indonesia

This also means that Bank Indonesia has plenty of ammunition to defend the rupiah which is currently under pressure - like most other emerging market currencies - amid severe US dollar strength. US dollar strength is caused by rising expectations of another US interest rate hike before the end of 2017 and US tax reforms.

Bank Indonesia Governor Agus Martowardojo said the record high foreign exchange asset position of Indonesia reflects the improving conditions in the Indonesian economy.

Indonesian Rupiah versus US Dollar (JISDOR):

| Source: Bank Indonesia

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