BI: Rupiah is Under Real Value  

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Governor of Bank Indonesia Agus Martowardojo admitted current value of the rupiah has been below the market price when compared with the currency's major trading partners. "When view REER (real effective exchange rate), the rupiah is slightly under 100," he said in Jakarta on Wednesday, July 22, 2015.

According to Agus, the condition is good for the sake of Indonesia's competitiveness, but it must be accompanied by improvements in infrastructure and the realization of investment interest. By doing so, the export can be improved even when commodity prices had dropped.

The rupiah was traded on Wednesday at 13,365 per US dollar.

BI Senior Deputy Governor, Mirza Adityaswara, said the rupiah undervalue has happened for quite a long time. He said, rupiah has been impacted by The Fed’s monetary normalization policy in 2013.

However, Mirza said fundamentally from within the country, the rupiah has strengthened with the improvement of the current account.The rupiah is still depressed by the strengthening exchange rate of the dollar against currencies worldwide.

"Thus, in investors’ terms, we have not seen the current account deficit healthy again," he said.

TRI ARTINING PUTRI