Fall of the rupiah imminent?

Fall of the rupiah imminent?

There has been speculation in Indonesia lately that something
resembling the monetary debacle which ravaged Thailand may take
place here. In Thailand, the national currency, the baht, fell
due to the greed that exists among some of its citizens.

It is feared that our own country will meet a similar fate as
there are some similarities. These include a large current
account deficit, large amounts of banking resources that are
being channeled into the property sector, and declining exports
due to the strengthening of the American dollar.

But economic indicators can be identical without necessarily
causing the same problems, because in each of the two countries
other decisive factors exist. Quite often, those factors cannot
be measured because they denote quality, rather than quantity.

We are grateful that different views and comments, as well as
criticism, have been offered, which could guide us while we
anticipate what might happen.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta