Jakarta (VNA) – The foreign currency reserves ofIndonesia last month reached 131.7 billion USD, nearing the 131.9 record levelin January 2018 and 2.5 billion USD higher than the figure of the end of lastyear, the Bank Indonesia (BI) reported on February 7.

It attributed the rise to the revenue from the issuance ofinternational bonds and the export of oil and gas.

In a press release, spokesman Onny Widjanarko of the centralbank affirmed that the current reserves are strong enough to support theresilience of the Indonesian economy against external factors and to maintainthe stability of the financial system as well as the macro economy.

An economist of the bank Andry Asmoro predicted the reserveswill reach 130-135 billion USD by the end of this year. However, risks from theweakening global growth as a result of trade wars and geopoliticaluncertainties, including the acute respiratory disease caused by the novelcoronavirus, will create difficulties for Indonesia’s exports.

Recently, the bank injected about 25 trillion rupiah (1.82billion USD) into the financial market as investors tried to dump their assetsfor fear of the losses caused by the epidemic to the global economy. BIgovernor Perry Warjiyo on February 5 said the bank is buying government bondsto stabilise the market and improve liquidity./.