Rupiah Reaches Rp12k, BI: Still on the Safe Side

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta- Bank Indonesia (BI) senior deputy governor Mirza Adityaswara said the weakening of rupiah exchange rate against the American dollar is still on the safe side. "Do not view that the weakening rupiah is negative or rupiah strengthening is positive. We only need to curb imports, and boost exports," he said at the BI building yesterday.

The ideal rupiah exchange rate is between Rp11,600-11,900. "It's good that it was hovering around those figures. It's already suitable figures to boost exports," Mirza added.

Transactions on the financial market in Indonesia are no more than US$ 3-4 billion per day. The figure is much lower compared to Malaysia and Thailand, which could reach US$11-15 billion per day.

A Samuel Sekuritas Indonesia economist, Rangga Cipta, said that the Federal Reserve's adjustment to the interest rate has strengthened the dollar exchange rate. "Although nothing new came out of the Fed's decision apart from the continuance of tapering off program, investors viewed [the US Federal Open Market Committee] FOMC meeting ended with more aggressive decisions," said Rangga.

It is not surprising; the US dollar has strengthened against majority of regional currencies. As per 12.15 p.m. Jakarta time, yesterday the rupiah slipped by 67.9 points or 0.57 percent to trade at Rp12,037.5 per US dollar.

AMOS SIMANUNGKALIT