Rupiah Strongest in Asia, Apindo: Uncertainties Still in Offing
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7 January 2019 21:03 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Deputy Head of Indonesian Entrepreneurs Association's (Apindo) International Relations and Investment, Shinta Widjaja Kamdani, said global uncertainties affecting the rupiah's movement were imminent. Shinta made this statement in light of the rupiah's strongest trade against the greenback among Asian countries.
“[The rupiah] indeed strengthens, but we have to actually see the volatility, which experiences ups and downs, and so uncertainty can still occur because we don’t know the position of Trump (US President Donal Trump), his policy is unstable,” said Shinta in the Finance Ministry building, Monday, January 7.
Shinta opined that with the issue of the trade war, the global uncertainties caused unstable trade of foreign exchange.
“We do not want to depend on the US dollar, so we start to use other foreign currency such as the yuan, which now has been recognized, so how we can use a foreign currency besides the US dollar for trading,” said Shinta.
Read: Rupiah Strongest in Asia; Trades for 14103/US
Shinta assessed the business sector had begun to explore other foreign currencies other than the US dollar due to the high dependence on it.
“Meanwhile in the US, the Fed could still raise [its rates], and if it does, it will give an impact. In my opinion, instead of keeping up with what will happen later, we should have solutions by using other foreign currencies for bilateral transactions,” she said.
The rupiah strengthened against the US dollar in the first trading day of the week, January 7. According to Bloomberg, the rupiah's spot market rate opened higher by 0.64 percent or up by 92 points to trade at Rp14,178 per US dollar.
MUHAMMAD HENDARTYO | BISNIS
