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Economic chief needs time to explain rupiah drop
Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution has declined to comment on the reason as to why the rupiah weakened to slightly above Rp 15,000 per US dollar on Tuesday, saying that he needed to look deeper into the matter.
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Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution (JP/Wienda Parwitasari)
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oordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution has declined to comment on the reason as to why the rupiah weakened to slightly above Rp 15,000 per United States dollar on Tuesday, saying that he needed to look deeper into the matter.
“I have to go home. I want to study it [the issue]. We will see,” Darmin said at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Tuesday as reported by kontan.co.id.
“Don’t comment on it first. We have to closely look into all [factors]. We do not need to hurry to comment on it.”
The rupiah weakened to Rp 15,025 per US dollar at 11:37 a.m. on Tuesday, 0.58 percent weaker than its position the day before, according to the foreign exchange spot market. The currency further weakened to Rp 15,049 at 3:16 p.m.
With the decline, the rupiah is at its lowest position since July 1998 when the currency was quoted at Rp 16,650 per US dollar and the country was strongly hit by a monetary crisis.
The rupiah exchange rate has stayed above Rp 14,900 since the US Federal Reserve increased its reference rate last Thursday. Bank Indonesia’s move to increase its key rate by 25 basis points to 5.75 percent also failed to help the rupiah.
The rupiah depreciation on Tuesday was in line with the weakening of other Asian currencies, according to a Bloomberg report. (bbn)
