Indonesia c.bank says forex reserves at $53.7 bn

Forbes, 03.06.09, 06:14 AM EST 

JAKARTA, March 6 (Reuters) - Indonesia's central bank posted $53.7 billion in foreign exchange reserves as of Friday, taking into account proceeds from the finance ministry's recent $3 billion global bond issue, the central bank governor said.

Bank Indonesia (BI) said on Wednesday that its foreign exchange reserves amounted to $50.6 billion, as proceeds from the global bond had not yet been included. 

Central Bank Governor Boediono also said Indonesian assets should remain attractive, despite recent interest rate cuts by the central bank, but did not elaborate. 

The central bank's foreign exchange reserves have been declining in the past several months, which traders said was because it has sold dollars in the market to support the rupiah currency. 

The rupiah has lost about 8 percent against the dollar so far this year, and more than 20 percent against the dollar since the start of October when the crisis hit Indonesia. 

'I think the amount that we have is adequate. We have additional funds from the government worth $3 billion so, as of today, our foreign exchange reserves are around $53.7 billion,' Boediono told reporters. 

Indonesia sold the global bonds last week, the biggest global bond out of Asia in over five years, to help finance a budget deficit that is forecast at 2.5 percent of GDP this year.