Prabowo Subianto Addresses DPR as Rupiah Strengthens to Rp17,710 per US$

Jakarta – CNBC Indonesia reports that the rupiah remained in the red against the United States dollar in trading on Wednesday, 20 May 2026. However, pressure on the rupiah began to ease ahead of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s address to the House of Representatives (DPR). According to Refinitiv, at 10:16 WIB, the rupiah traded at Rp17,710 per US, down0.08, or down 0.20% against the US dollar. Although the depreciation softened somewhat, the rupiah remains on a weakening trend. In the previous session, Tuesday 19 May 2026, the rupiah closed down 0.31% at Rp17,695 per US$, the weakest closing level in the rupiah’s history. The movement of the rupiah today is expected to be heavily influenced by Bank Indonesia’s decision on the benchmark rate, the BI Rate. The result of the BI Board of Governors meeting will be announced this afternoon. That decision is one of the market’s most important items on the agenda, given the heavy pressure on the rupiah and domestic financial markets. Based on a CNBC Indonesia poll of 15 participating institutions, nine expect BI to raise the BI Rate by 25 basis points to 5.00%. Six other institutions project that the policy rate will remain at 4.75%. The majority view among market participants is that an rate hike is the main scenario for this RDG. The mounting pressure on the rupiah, together with rising external risks, leaves BI with limited room to hold rates. If the RDG outcome aligns with the majority consensus, it would be the first rate increase in two years. The last time BI raised rates was in April 2024, when the central bank lifted the BI Rate by 25 basis points from 6.00% to 6.25%.