VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Bank Indonesia (BI) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on Thursday (5/11) agreed to extend bilateral financial cooperation worth $10 billion for one year.

"This cooperation has been going on since November 2018 as a follow-up to an agreement between President Joko Widodo and Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong to support monetary and financial stability in the two countries," said BI Communication Department Executive Director Onny Widjanarko in a press release in Jakarta, Thursday.

This cooperation comprises two agreements, namely the Local Currency Bilateral Swap Agreement (LCBSA) which allows the exchange of local currency between the two central banks up to 9.5 billion Singapore dollars or Rp. 100 trillion (around 7 billion US dollars).

In addition, the Bilateral Repo Agreement (BRL) allows repo transactions between the two central banks to get liquidity in US dollars up to 3 billion US dollars by pledging government bonds issued by countries. G3 (United States, Japan, and Germany) owned by the two central banks.

According to Onny, the cooperation was previously extended for the first time in November 2019.

The second extension shows Indonesia's commitment and Singapore to continue to support each other in order to build confidence in economic conditions in each country amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. (Antaranews)