TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Bank Indonesia (BI) said it is ready to stabilize and intervene the market in a bid to prevent the rupiah from plummeting further, hence protecting Indonesia's economy from turmoil.
"Since this is related to the market, the strategy is a top secret," BI director for monetary management Doddy Zulverdi told the press in Jakarta, Thursday, March 1.
On Thursday, the rupiah depreciated further against the US dollar to trade more than 13,800 per US dollar. However, Doddy said that BI immediately took stabilizing efforts.
Read: Rupiah Drops to Trade for 13,791/USD
"When the rupiah reached 13,800 per US dollar we were read. We have been looking at all data. Since morning there have been signs of pressure, so we were ready and immediately conducted stabilization," Doddy said.
Later on Thursday, the rupiah managed to rebound amid most Asian currencies' depreciation against the US dollar. The rupiah closed up 0.02 percent or 3 points higher at Rp13,748 per US dollar.
BI is reluctant to disclose their intervention strategy to control the rupiah's exchange rate. "Intervention strategies, intervention volumes, and others are part of our internal strategy in market operations," Doddy said.
Doddy further said that the central bank's strategy for rupiah stabilization is something they want to keep secret from others. He only said that the intervention policy that will be done by taking into account all occurrences of pressure in the market.
Dewi Nurita
