REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Islamic banks say they need not yet the foreign currency term deposit as the dollar transaction is still low. "It is not that much. The parameter is net open position (NOP)," the Director of Submission and Risk Management in Bank Muamalat, Andi Buchari, said.

Bank Muamalat's NOP is still in the amount of three percent, while the maximum is 20 percent. The US dollar assets and the USD financing in Bank Muamalat are undergone by sufficient dollar liquidity.

Every dollar financing, he continued, should come from USD funds to prevent the gap in liquidity. Besides, Bank Muamalat still has a place to put foreign currency liquidity in some correspondent branches in abroad. Muamalat branch in Malaysia, he said, helped the bank for the placement.

Major banks are actually urged to conduct placement in Bank Indonesia, but they can do their own placement in other banks. "We make it as secondary reserve," Buchari said.

Money market of Islamic inter-bank in foreign currency sector is also less active because there are only few banks that manage dollar. Earlier before, Bank Indonesia has issued a letter related to the transaction of foreign currency term deposit. The instrument is seen as the alternative for liquidity placement.

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