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View all search resultsGovt revives plan to chop some zeros off rupiah bills
The government has put back in motion a long-delayed plan to redenominate the rupiah, likely by cutting off three zeros, but economists warn the plan could cause more problems than it solves.
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Indonesian rupiah bills are pictured on Oct. 11, 2025, in Jakarta. (JP/Deni Ghifari)
T
he government has put back in motion a long-delayed plan to redenominate the rupiah and aims to have a corresponding law ready in 2027, but economists warn the plan could cause more problems than it solves.
Bank Indonesia (BI) defined the policy as “simplifying the number of digits of the rupiah”, which may mean cutting off three zeros, so that a Rp 50,000 (US$3) banknote would become a Rp 50 bill.
BI spokesman Ramdan Denny Prakoso said in a statement on Monday that the measure would be undertaken “without decreasing purchasing power”, meaning people would be able to afford the same amount of goods and services as before.
He said BI, the government and the House of Representatives would “continue to discuss” the redenomination process and that the implementation “will take into account the right timing by paying attention to political, economic and social stability”.
Denny went on to say that legal, logistical and information-technological readiness would be ensured before the policy is implemented and that the central bank would “focus on maintaining rupiah stability and supporting economic growth while the redenomination process is ongoing”.
Thinking or talking about prices without the last three digits is already common practice for many Indonesians, and on price lists and menus, stores and eateries often replace them with the letter “k”.
Indonesia has toyed with the idea for more than a decade, particularly in 2013, when the government drafted a redenomination policy that was to be deliberated the following year, but that never happened.
