Caution! Rupiah Breaches Rp17,000 per US Dollar

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - The rupiah exchange rate weakened against the US dollar at the start of trading on Monday (23/3/2026). According to Google Finance, the rupiah fell by 0.21% to Rp16,992 per US dollar.

As a note, Indonesia’s financial markets will be closed during the extended Eid al-Fitr and Nyepi holidays from Wednesday (18/3/2026) until next Tuesday (24/3/2026).

Nevertheless, the rupiah continues to be traded abroad in the Non-Deliverable Forward (NDF) market.

Previously, Bank Indonesia Deputy Governor Destry Damayanti stated that although the domestic financial markets are closed during the 2026 Eid al-Fitr holiday period, the rupiah is still traded overseas, so its fluctuations must be monitored 24 hours a day.

“Indeed, the domestic market is closed, but the overseas market is not. This is what we are constantly on guard for; we monitor the market for the dollar and the rupiah-dollar 24 hours a day, which in this case we observe through the NDF market,” said Destry during the online press conference on the results of the BI board of governors’ meeting on Tuesday (17/3/2026).

Destry emphasised that vigilance towards exchange rate transaction movements is important because the conflict in the Middle East has proven to worsen global financial market uncertainty, marked by continuous foreign capital outflows from emerging markets.

According to Reuters, on Friday (20/3/2026), the US dollar closed its first weekly decline since the war in Iran began, due to the surging oil prices’ effect on inflation prompting central banks to adopt a hawkish stance. The Australian dollar fell at the start of trading as equity markets appeared set to open lower.

The European Central Bank maintained interest rates on Thursday but warned of energy-driven inflation. The Bank of England also kept rates steady, while the Bank of Japan opened the possibility of a rate hike as soon as April.

Equity futures contracts indicated a sharp drop in Japan’s Nikkei index, while the US 10-year Treasury bond yield rose to a near eight-month high of 4.4055%.

The Australian dollar weakened 0.17% against the US dollar to US$0.7011. New Zealand’s kiwi dollar dipped slightly by 0.03% to US$0.5832.