JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Indonesia\u2019s economic growth in the first\nquarter of 2026 at 5.61 percent has raised questions among the public.\nThe rupiah\u2019s exchange rate weakened instead, breaching the Rp17,400 per\nUS dollar level during trading on Monday (4\/5\/2026).<\/p>\n
Nailul Huda, Director of the Digital Economy at the Center of\nEconomic and Law Studies (Celios), assessed that there are several\nanomalies in the first quarter 2026 economic growth data released by the\nCentral Statistics Agency (BPS).<\/p>\n
According to him, this situation makes investors not fully trust the\nBPS data release, even though the economic growth figure is the highest\nsince 2012.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe negative movement of the rupiah (weakening) indicates that our\neconomic growth is fragile and thus not trusted by investors,\u201d Nailul\ntold Kompas.com on Thursday (7\/5\/2026).<\/p>\n
However, the rupiah moved to weaken. This condition is seen as\nindicating that foreign investors remain cautious about entering the\ndomestic market because they see the foundation of economic growth as\nnot yet strong.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year, when (the economy) was reported to rise sharply in the\nsecond and fourth quarters, it was considered not to reflect the rise in\nIndonesia\u2019s economy. Therefore, even though the first quarter of 2026\nrose to 5.61 percent, investors look at other indicators before\ninvesting, especially those from abroad. Thus, the impetus for capital\ninflows tends to be low, even with capital outflows,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
Domestic and foreign investors, Nailul continued, now tend to take\nsafe steps amid economic uncertainties globally and domestically.<\/p>\n
This is evident from the increasing tendency of domestic investors to\nconvert rupiah to US dollars.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is what causes the demand for dollars to increase, the rupiah\nto weaken further. Coupled with the current economic growth being\novershadowed by the risk of default and government shutdown. So it is\nincreasingly fragile,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the economy is said to be strong, with true economic growth of\n5.61 percent, it seems that rupiah weakening would not occur,\u201d Nailul\nadded.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/rupiah-weakens-amid-5-61-percent-economic-growth-whats-going-on-1778156613", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }