Purbaya Begins Rupiah Rescue Efforts Today

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa has begun preparing stabilisation measures following the rupiah’s exchange rate against the US dollar breaching Rp17,500 per US dollar on Tuesday (12/5/2026).

The government plans to activate several market stabilisation instruments starting from Wednesday (13/5/2026). One of them is through intervention in the government bond market or State Securities (SBN).

Purbaya stated that the government will utilise the bond stabilisation fund or Bond Stabilization Fund (BSF).

“We will start helping tomorrow, perhaps by entering the bond market. We have the BSF, but it’s not fully funded yet; we will activate the instruments we have here,” said Purbaya at the Ministry of Finance office on Tuesday.

Purbaya explained that the BSF funds will be used to purchase SBN or debt securities issued by foreign investors.

“We will try to see if we can help stability in the bond market, then gradually to the exchange rate market as well,” clarified Purbaya.

The initial intervention phase will utilise state cash reserves. This step does not require coordination with Bank Indonesia (BI) or the Financial Services Authority (OJK) through the Financial System Stability Committee (KSSK) forum.

Based on Bloomberg data, the rupiah against the US dollar was traded around Rp17,512 on Tuesday afternoon. This value weakened by 0.56 percent compared to the previous close at Rp17,414 per US dollar.

The South Korean won became the currency with the deepest weakening in Asia after falling 0.89 percent.

The rupiah then rebounded at the start of trading on Wednesday (13/5/2026). The Garuda currency opened stronger by 0.08 percent to the level of Rp17,515 per US dollar.