BI: foreign exchange reserves in 2009 Good

            Indonesia`s foreign exchange reserves are recorded at US$56.6 billion which is quite good as it is higher than earlier predicted. Bank Indonesia deputy governor Hartadi A Sarwono said here on Friday the foreign exchange reserves were still safe despite foreign debt repayment pressures. "Foreign exchange reserves must be made available as it is needed to deal with a possible shock," he said.

He said the foreign exchange reserves were collected from surplus in the state budget and foreign loans. He said the budget surplus that went to the foreign exchange reserves was collected from export-import surplus which in the first quarter of 2009 reached US$1.8 billion. "The amount is higher than BI`s prediction which was around US$600 million," he said. The surplus from exports and imports was high because the value of non-oil and gas exports in the first quarter was also high reaching around US$20 billion or US$2 billion higher than BI`s prediction.

The value of oil and gas imports in the period meanwhile dropped from that of the fourth

quarter of 2008 causing a surplus, he said. "In the fourth quarter of 2008 the government imported a lot to increase stocks to meet the first quarter of 2009," he said. He said to increase the value of exports the government had to conduct recovery particularly in the mining and agro-industrial sector. "Indonesia`s non-oil and gas exports although their value is above estimates remained affected by global financial crisis," he said.