Dollar at Rp17,500: Purbaya Reveals Unexpected Impact on State Budget
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa has confirmed that the pressure on the rupiah exchange rate against the US dollar, which has breached the Rp17,500/US$ level, has not yet impacted the state revenue and expenditure budget (APBN), including debt burdens.
He explained that when preparing the 2026 APBN last year, the government had included assumptions for the exchange rate up to the current level of Rp17,500/US$. Therefore, the pressure has already been anticipated in this year’s fiscal planning.
Although the official macroeconomic assumptions outlined in the 2026 APBN Law are Rp16,500/US$, which is well below the current rupiah level.
“So when we calculated it, we assumed it would be above the APBN rupiah assumption. I won’t specify, but it’s above that, not far from now. So the APBN is still relatively safe,” Purbaya said at his office in Jakarta on Tuesday (12/5/2026).
Nevertheless, Purbaya assured that with the current level, the government will actively assist Bank Indonesia in managing the ongoing pressure of the US dollar against the rupiah.
He claimed that the government’s cash reserves are currently abundant to help Bank Indonesia intervene in the dollar pressure in the bond market.
“But we will control the value, we will try to help the exchange rate, we will assist Bank Indonesia a little bit if possible. We still have plenty of budget money, we will intervene in the bond market so that the yield doesn’t rise too high,” Purbaya stated.
“If the yield rises too high, what does that mean? Foreigners holding bonds here will face capital losses, and they will exit. So we will control that so that foreigners don’t exit, or even enter if the yield improves, thereby strengthening the rupiah.
We will start entering from tomorrow,” Purbaya explained.
As is known, the rupiah exchange rate opened this morning’s trading at a historic weakening level, reaching Rp17,500/US$.
According to Refinitiv data, the Garuda currency weakened to Rp17,500/US$ at 9:15 WIB. At the opening, the rupiah opened in the red zone with a 0.43% weakening to Rp17,480/US$. The DXY also strengthened 0.21% at opening to 98.115.