Bank Indonesia Denies Selling 11 Tons of Gold by End-August 2025
Key Takeaways
|
JAKARTA, Investortrust.id — Bank Indonesia denies having sold 11 tons of its gold reserves as of Aug. 31, 2025, countering claims raised in a recent report by the World Gold Council that tracked gold transactions by central banks worldwide.
“The central bank has not conducted any gold sales as reported,” said Executive Director of the Communication Department Ramdan Denny Prakoso in an official statement to Investortrust.id on Monday, Oct. 6, 2025.
Denny urged the public and media to rely solely on Bank Indonesia’s official channels for updates on foreign exchange reserves. However, he did not clarify whether the WGC data was inaccurate.
Commodity and currency analyst Ibrahim Assuaibi suggested that if any gold sales had taken place, they were likely tied to the central bank’s efforts to stabilize the rupiah. “It’s reasonable to liquidate gold holdings when the price is high, especially when immediate dollar liquidity is needed for currency intervention,” he said.
Bank Indonesia’s latest data show that the country’s foreign exchange reserves stood at US$150.7 billion at the end of August, down from US$152 billion in July. The decline was attributed to external debt payments and efforts to maintain rupiah stability amid global financial volatility.
“The rupiah stabilization policy was part of Bank Indonesia’s response to persistent uncertainty in global financial markets,” the central bank said in its statement.
The pressure continued into September, with the rupiah weakening to Rp 16,740 per US dollar by the end of the month, touching Rp 16,800 in intraday spot trading, according to data from Investing.com.
The depreciation occurred as state-owned banks—Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), Bank Mandiri, Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI), and Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN)—raised their foreign currency deposit rates to 4%. Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa later clarified that the move was not a government directive.
“I never told Danantara or the banks to raise deposit rates like that,” Purbaya said during a press briefing at the Finance Ministry in Jakarta on Friday, Sept. 26, 2025.
He acknowledged that discussions on incentivizing foreign exchange holders took place at the Presidential Palace, with the aim of encouraging Indonesians holding U.S. dollars in Singapore to repatriate their funds.
“That’s still being reviewed; the associated risks need to be carefully calculated,” he added.
Purbaya, half-jokingly, also hinted that he intended to push the rupiah to strengthen beyond its fundamental value. “If you’re forward-looking players, you’ll understand what signal to take from this. It’s a very strong signal from me,” he said.