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Airlangga downplays rupiah's brief plunge to multiyear low
The Coordinating Economic Minister downplayed Tuesday's temporary plunge to a record low in a doorstep interview on Wednesday, saying that currency fluctuation was “normal” and pointing to external factors as the cause, without elaborating.
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Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto brief reporters on gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the third quarter of 2024 at his Jakarta office on Nov. 5. (JP/Deni Ghifari)
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senior cabinet minister has soft-pedaled the drop in the rupiah’s rate against the United States dollar by emphasizing that the Indonesian economy’s fundamentals remain strong.
Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto told reporters on Wednesday that “the rupiah going up and down is normal" as he approached the presidential palace compound for a meeting with President Prabowo Subianto, describing the exchange rate movement as a daily occurrence.
“The economic fundamentals are strong, and the market has rebounded,” Airlangga added, as quoted by Bisnis.com.
The senior minister attributed the rupiah depreciation to external sentiments, adding that Bank Indonesia (BI) was constantly monitoring the currency’s stability.
Investing.com readings showed the rupiah momentarily trading at Rp 16,654 to the greenback on Tuesday before it rebounded to around Rp 16,560 on Thursday, while the BI reference rate stood at Rp 16,622 per dollar for that day.
Tuesday’s temporary plunge breached the previous low of Rp 16,640 reached during the local onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. It also inched closer to the all-time record low of Rp 17,300 against the US dollar that was recorded at the peak of the Asian Financial Crisis in 1998.
Read also: Rupiah drops to multiyear low ahead of Trump's tariffs, domestic uncertainty
