By BLOOMBERG
Bank Indonesia indicated its foreign- exchange reserves increased US$5.7 billion (RM25.04 billion) to US$105.9 billion in December, in figures posted on its website that were later removed.
A central bank official declined to confirm the numbers, saying they would be released later on Friday. Should the official data affirm the gain, it would be the largest since April 2012 and the first increase following a nine-month run in which the reserves fell 13 percent. The rupiah advanced 0.3% to 13,893 a dollar as of 11:41 am in Jakarta, paring its loss this week to 0.8%, prices from local banks show.
The jump in the reserves reduces concern that Bank Indonesia will run out of ammunition should it wish to defend the rupiah amid rising US interest rates and growing worries that the weakening yuan will spur a regional currency war. Only the Philippine peso, Thailand’s baht and India’s rupee have fared better than the Indonesian exchange rate this week among Asian emerging markets.
— By Lilian Karunungan
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