RI, China ink US$15b swap deal to boost forex supply

Aditya Suharmoko, THE JAKARTA POST, JAKARTA | Tue, 03/24/2009 11:04 AM

Indonesia and China have agreed on a Rp 175 trillion or 100 billion yuan (US$15 billion) currency swap to provide short-term foreign exchange liquidity and help boost bilateral trade and investment, Bank Indonesia announced Monday.

“The swap arrangement will contribute positively to an increase in trade and direct investment between the two countries, help provide short-term liquidity to stabilize the financial market, and help Indonesia overcome tight liquidity from overseas funds,” BI said in a statement.

The deal was signed by BI Governor Boediono and People’s Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan in China. The three-year arrangement can be extended if both sides agree.

BI said the swap line was on top of the multilateral swap arrangement under the Chiang Mai Initiative, under which Indonesia is set to receive at least $12 billion from Japan, $4 billion from China and $2 billion from South Korea.

“The arrangement will add comfort and confidence [to the market],” said Bank Danamon chief economist Anton Gunawan.

Following the deal, the rupiah rose 1.9 percent to 11,558 per dollar, its biggest gain since Feb. 2, at 4:21 p.m. in Jakarta, Bloomberg reported.

The currency has slid 5.7 percent this year, the second biggest drop among Asia’s 10 most active currencies, excluding the Japanese yen.

Indonesia needs as much funding as possible to add to the country’s foreign exchange reserves, which stood at $53.9 billion as of March 13, according to BI.

Analysts estimate Indonesia needs around $80 billion in reserves to sufficiently cope with the global financial meltdown.

Indonesia has $22.6 billion worth of corporate overseas debt maturing this year that may drain nearly half of the foreign exchange reserves.

Under the Chiang Mai Initiative, Indonesia, under the ASEAN+3 grouping, has a pool of funds whose amount is set to be increased to $120 billion, that can be used to add to the foreign exchange reserves under certain circumstances.

ASEAN+3 includes the 10 ASEAN member states — the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos — and the three East Asian nations of Japan, China and South Korea.

The Chiang Mai Initiative foreign exchange reserve pool is accessible to members in a swap mechanism to boost foreign exchange reserves and address short-term liquidity problems.

Members in dire need of the foreign exchange reserve fund, however, will be subject to an independent surveillance mechanism by other members.

A surveillance by member countries is preferred because most of the ASEAN+3 nations have suffered a traumatic experience from tapping financial support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), often bundled with seemingly unfavorable and ineffective terms and conditions.

Details of the surveillance will be endorsed in May during the group’s meeting.

Under existing rules, members withdrawing the fund by more than 20 percent of their real need are required to have IMF supervision.

Anton said that to avoid IMF oversight, Indonesia should draw on standby facilities provided by several countries and financial institutions.

The standby facilities, which amount to $5.5 billion, can be used whenever the country needs the money. The World Bank has provided $2 billion, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation $1.5 billion, the Asian Development Bank $1 billion and Australia $1 billion.

Although the facilities are not intended to add to the foreign exchange reserves, but rather to help plug the budget deficit, if the money “is withdrawn, it will add to the foreign exchange reserves”, said Anton.

“Then the government can spend the money in rupiah,” he added.