Exports unaffected by rupiah's rise: Rini

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Minister of Industry and Trade Rini MS Soewandi said on Wednesday that the country's exports would remain competitive despite the sharp rise in the value of the rupiah against the U.S. dollar.

"Exports will remain competitive," she was quoted by Dow Jones as saying.

She added that even if the local unit strengthened to Rp 8,500, exports would still be competitive.

She did not elaborate.

She made the statement following an earlier report in this paper quoting exporters as saying that the sharp appreciation of the local unit would make their products more expensive in the export market compared to products from competitor countries whose currencies have not appreciated as fast as the rupiah.

"If the rupiah strengthens to beyond Rp 9,000, we'll be in difficulties," Anton J. Supit, head of the Indonesian Footwear Association (Aprisindo), said.

Anton cautioned that if the rupiah strengthened too fast, the shoe export target of around US$1.5 billion this year would be difficult to achieve.

An executive with a local electronics maker warned that if the rupiah strengthened to beyond Rp 8,500, the country's electronics exports would be badly hit.

The rupiah has been on the rise since the beginning of this year. The local unit breached the psychologically important level of Rp 9,000 Monday. The currency is now hovering at its nine- month highs of around Rp 9,025.