Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia`s foreign exchange reserves reached US$93 billion until the end of November, Bank Indonesia Deputy Governor Hartadi A Sarwono said.

"Now they have reached US$93 billion. The exchange reserves have risen by US$43 billion in two years," he said at BNI Economic Outlook 2011 here on Monday.

He said the hike was quite an achievement, showing investors` confidence in Indonesia. "I think it is quite good achievement due to investors` confidence to enter Indonesia," he said.

He said the big reserves could be used to safeguard the economy in case of an upheaval. "By increasing the foreign exchange reserves it means we are providing an umbrella before rain comes," he said.

He said besides Indonesia there is also another country that has collected large foreign exchange reserves namely Brazil whose foreign exchange reserves rose up to US$45 billion.

He said during the economic crisis in 2008 Indonesia`s foreign exchange reserves dropped drastically to US$50 billion because Bank Indonesia continued intervening to keep the country`s rupiah currency from weakening.

"We were worried to see the fluctuations in the currency`s and therefore we intervened making the reserves to drop to around US$50 billion," he said.

Hartadi said the present condition was different from 2008 with the country having an excess liquidity due to capital inflows.

"This is the success problem. A lot of funds. Funds are everywhere. So the question is how to make them as a mover of real economic activity," he said.(*)

Editor: Heru

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