PT Bank Central Asia Tbk : Indonesia, Japan promote own currencies for trade and investment

Indonesia's central bank and Japan's finance ministry have named a number of banks as cross currency dealers to encourage the use of the rupiah and yen for bilateral trade and investment, Bank Indonesia said on Monday.

Mizuho Bank, MUFG Bank, and Bank Negara Indonesia were appointed as dealers to handle direct quotations of rupiah and yen in both countries.

In addition, Resona Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp were appointed as dealers in Japan and Bank Central Asia, Bank Mandiri, Bank Rakyat Indonesia and BTPN in Indonesia.

The two countries have been promoting the use of local currencies for bilateral transactions for years and their central banks have a cross-currency bilateral swap arrangement worth an equivalent of $22.76 billion.

Two-way trade in goods between Indonesia and Japan was worth $31.7 billion in 2019. Japan is also a major source of foreign direct investment into Indonesia.

(Reporting by Tabita Diela; Editing by Gayatri Suroyo and Jacqueline Wong)