Indonesia's international reserves up to 41 bln US dollars

Indonesia's foreign exchange reserves rose to 41.13 billion U.S. dollars as of July 31 from 40.1 billion dollars in June, the central bank announced Thursday, despite recent debt repayment to the International Monetary Fund.

Bank Indonesia, the central bank, repaid in June half of the remaining IMF debts of 7.8 billion dollars, which it received in the form of standby loans as part of a multibillion dollar bailout package after the regional financial crisis in the late 1990s.

Bank Indonesia Governor Burhanuddin Abdullah has earlier said the government was likely to pay off the IMF debts maturing in 2010 if the international reserves are sufficient to cover the cost of between 4.5 and 4.7 months of imports.

Burhanuddin has said a second payment could be made either in November or December this year, or in 2007 at the latest.

Source: Xinhua