Indonesia: Economic chief calls for calm as rupiah weakens against US dollar

• Apr 24, 2018

Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution has called for calm over the rupiah weakening against the US dollar, saying that such a development has both a positive and negative impact.

“I will say, there is such a development. But don’t worry too much,” Darmin said at his office in Jakarta on Monday as quoted by kontan.com.

He said the rupiah weakening was caused by the strengthening US dollar, which also affected other currencies.

On Monday morning, the rupiah was quoted at 13,890 against the US dollar at the Jakarta Interbank Spot Dollar Rate (JISDOR), the weakest figure in the last two and a half years.

Meanwhile, according to Bloomberg, the rupiah spot exchange rate was quoted at 13,921 against the US dollar at the Tuesday morning opening from 13,975 at the Monday closing position.

Darmin denied that the decline of the rupiah value was caused by internal factors, saying there was no problem with Indonesia’s fundamental economy.

Meanwhile, Bank Indonesia Governor Agus Martowardojo said the central bank was taking measures to stabilize the currency.

“Bank Indonesia is always open to stabilizing the rupiah so that the value will be in accordance with its fundamental,” Agus said in a statement issued on Monday night.

He said the rupiah had been under pressure since Friday due to the strengthening US dollar, sparked by the increasing value of US treasury bills as well as expectations of a third increase to the Fed Fund Rate.

 On Monday, the rupiah weakened by 0.12 percent from 0.70 percent on Friday, Agus added. (bbn)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2018/04/24/economic-chief-calls-for-calm-as-rupiah-weakens-against-us-dollar.html