Jakarta – Indonesia saw its foreign exchange reserves dip in April as the government continues paying off its overseas debts.

The foreign exchange reserves fell to $124.3 billion at the end of April from $124.5 billion a month earlier, data from Bank Indonesia, the country's central bank, showed on Wednesday.

The reserves are enough to cover 7 months of imports or 6.8 months of imports plus government debt payments, the central bank said.

They are well above the international standard, which requires reserves to cover at least 3 months of imports.

"Bank Indonesia considers the official reserve assets are more than enough to support external sector resilience and maintain macroeconomic and financial system sustainability," said Onny Widjanarko, Bank Indonesia's communications director.

The bank also said that the reserves will remain adequate to support Indonesia's economic stability and growth prospects.

The central bank expects Indonesia's economy will grow by 5-5.4 percent this year.

Indonesia's current account deficit – which shows that the country is losing more on imports, interest payment, remittance and dividends than it gains from combined overseas revenues – is expected to narrow to 2.5 percent of its gross domestic product this year from 3 percent last year, according to the latest projection from the central bank.

Source: https://jakartaglobe.id/context/forex-reserves-dip-in-april-as-govt-pays-off-overseas-debts