China, Indonesia renew currency swap deal

By Wu Jiao in Jakarta and Zhang Yunbi in Beijing ( chinadaily.com.cn )

Updated: 2013-10-02

China and Indonesia announced a 100 billion-yuan-rupiah currency swap, on Wednesday to promote trade settlements in local currencies, China’s President Xi Jinping said during a visit to the Southeast Asian country.

Xi went on to say that the two countries are even considering enlarging the scope of the deal, which is in fact a continuation of an agreement signed in 2009.

Indonesia’s ambassador to China, Imron Cotan, explained that the swap arrangement signed back in 2009 was designed to stabilize Indonesia’s economy during the 2009 economic crisis and be extension sustain two-way trade and investment.

Cotan added, "It succeeded in its objective and, coupled with prudent fiscal and monetary policies of the Indonesian government and greater domestic consumption, the swap did indeed manage to move the Indonesian economy away from turbulence."

In an interview prior to the visit, Cotan noted that discussions of the need to renew the swap agreement take into account the current economic hiccups caused by the latest US financial policy and concluded, "We’re confident that our national currency and our economy will once again show their strength to confront the pressure.”