JAKARTA (Sept 30): Indonesia's central bank has increased its purchases of government bonds in the secondary market in September in a bid to pump up liquidity, an official said on Wednesday.

In the year to the end of September, Bank Indonesia (BI) has bought almost 300 trillion rupiah (US$16.79 billion) of government bonds, including short-duration treasury bills in the primary market and longer tenor bonds in the secondary market, said Erwin Gunawan Hutapea, its head of monetary management.

The bank has spent more than 110 trillion rupiah on government bonds since July 21, when the figure for total purchases stood at 188.7 trillion rupiah.

BI increased its bond buying operation in the secondary market in September as "part of our efforts to inject liquidity", Erwin told reporters.

After governor Perry Warjiyo's surprise resignation in late July, BI has not disclosed the volume of its bond purchases in its policy statements published after its monthly board meetings.

BI typically pairs its currency interventions in support of the rupiah with bond buying to neutralise their impact on domestic rupiah liquidity.

BI raised policy rates by 100 basis points between May and June in a tightening cycle to support the falling rupiah exchange rate, but it has also pledged to maintain adequate liquidity at home to protect economic growth.

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