Indonesia, Japan promote own currencies

JAKARTA: 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.