House Budget Committee: Be Open to Criticism and Input to Tackle the Strong Dollar

The Budget Committee of the Indonesian House of Representatives (Banggar DPR) has called on all parties to be open to criticism and input in addressing the strong US dollar, the rising yields on Government Securities (SBN), and the declining Jakarta Composite Index (IHSG). “This serves as a reflection for ourselves,” said Banggar DPR Chair Said Abdullah in a statement received in Jakarta on Wednesday. He noted that Indonesia is currently facing serious pressure on the rupiah’s exchange rate against the US dollar and on SBN yields. On the trading floor, the IHSG is also showing a downward trend. According to Said, Indonesia need not point fingers at external sentiments, such as questioning the US Federal Reserve’s hawkish policy stance or the ongoing turmoil in the Gulf, as these factors are beyond the nation’s control. Consequently, he stated, what must be prepared in a more planned manner with sound execution is how to tackle the strong dollar, high SBN yields, and the falling IHSG. To address these issues, Said recommended that the government needs to restore business confidence through three measures. The first is maintaining policy consistency. He argued that policy uncertainty poses a major risk for business players. Therefore, the government should refrain from announcing premature policies and instead build productive multi-stakeholder dialogue on policy plans. “This is good news. Hopefully, it will further reassure the market,” he said. Moreover, he added, if this year’s deficit realisation can be lower—at least in the range of 2.58 per cent, compared to the 2026 state budget target of 2.68 per cent and the 2025 realisation of 2.81 per cent—it could demonstrate a positive trend. Additionally, market players also expect governance reforms in various priority programmes, such as the Free Nutritious Meals programme (MBG) and the Merah Putih Village/Sub-district Cooperatives (KDMP). Said suggested that the government could at least improve the capacity of implementing bodies, avoid conflicts of interest, build a supply chain ecosystem, and focus more on target beneficiaries and priority regions. Thirdly, he revealed that regarding the stock exchange, Banggar DPR is urging the Financial Services Authority (OJK) to continue improving exchange governance, enhancing transparency in share ownership, increasing the public shareholding portion, or free float, to above 15 per cent, and continuously evaluating and improving the Self-Regulatory Organisations (SRO) in the domestic capital market.