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Jakarta Post

Rupiah will still face turbulence next year: Chief economic minister

News Desk (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Thu, December 27, 2018

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Rupiah will still face turbulence next year: Chief economic minister Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution (JP/Anton Hermansyah)

T

he rupiah will still face turbulence next year as a result of continuing global economic uncertainty, Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution has said.

However, he estimated that the currency’s exchange rate would be too far from Rp 14,500 per US dollar.   

“The rupiah will strengthen a bit and weaken a bit amid the unsettled situation,” Darmin said on Wednesday as quoted by kompas.com.

Daily turbulences should not be exaggerated, he warned, unless they continued to reoccur for at least a week.

The trade war between the United States and China and global monetary volatility, both of which have affected the rupiah, are not over, he warned.

He added that a policy introduced by several countries, including the US, would usually affect currencies worldwide. He was, therefore, pleasantly surprised that the recent Federal Reserve Fund Rate increase did not affect the rupiah.

“The currency even strengthened slightly against the US dollar. I believe that the rupiah exchange rate will be fluctuating [next year] but still stay at around [Rp 14,500 per US dollar],” he added.

The rupiah exchange rate stood at Rp 14,563 per US dollar on Thursday, according to the Jakarta interbank spot dollar rate (JISDOR), strengthening from its position on Wednesday, which was at Rp 14,602.

The rupiah has weakened 7.71 percent from January so far, according to Bloomberg. Its strongest position was at Rp 13,289 per US dollar on Jan. 25, while the average rate last year was Rp 14,237 per US dollar. (bbn)

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