The central bank (Bank Indonesia/BI) and Japan’s Finance Ministry have agreed to amend the bilateral swap arrangement (BSA) with a value of US$22.76 billion to overcome the difficulties of short-term liquidity. For information, the BSA agreement between the two countries was first signed on Feb. 17, 2003 and has been amended and extended several times.

The agreement has signed at the sideline meeting of ASEAN+3 in Manila, Philippines. It said, the amendment allow Indonesian central bank to borrow in Japan Yen, expanded from previous agreement in 2003, which only allowed U.S dollar swap.

According To the BI’s official Doddy Zulverdi, the current BSA agreement between Indonesia and Japan was agreed on Dec. 12, 2016 and will expire on Dec. 12, 2019. He said, the amendment is to strengthening of the previous BSA especially in terms of the flexibility of currency that can be used.