Indonesian Finance Minister, Sri Mulyani (ANTARA/Widodo S. Jusuf/*)
"This will add to the swap arrangement with Japan under the Chiang Mai Initiative which was worth US$12 billion," Indonesian finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said here on Monday.
She said the director general of debt management, Rahmat Waluyanto, and head of fiscal policy Anggito Abimanyu and deputy governor of Bank Indonesia Hartadi were now still settling matters relating to the cooperation.
She said the cooperation was aimed at safeguarding the country`s economy particularly trade between the two countries because the facility would be used for direct trade transactions and supporting balance of payment.
"This will be used if Indonesia and Japan needs it for direct transactions and supporting balance of payment. Certainly we should be alert as situation in 2010 will not yet be normal and there it is needed to give support so that the balance of payment will not be affected and to sustain credibility," she said.
She said in line with the Japanese regulation the Japanese Central Bank`s approval also had to be approved by the finance ministry. In view of that the signing was done by the two countries` finance ministers while the execution would be carried out by Bank Indonesia.
She said in Indonesia all transactions linked to trade balance was done through Bank Indonesia (the central bank).
She said to sustain Indonesia`s capacity in dealing with the crisis she had already taken a series of policies supportive to economy.
Besides having US$12 billion in bilateral currency swap arrangement with Japan for a foreign exchange reserve Indonesia also has US$11.9 billion worth of finance facility provided under the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization (pooling of funds from ASEAN+ 3) to strengthen its foreign exchange reserve.(*)
