Purbaya Denies State Budget is Cause of Rupiah's Decline to IDR 18,000: Five-Month Deficit at 0.7%

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa refuted the growing public sentiment that the weakening of the Rupiah against the US dollar is caused by reckless fiscal policies.

According to Purbaya, current fiscal policies and conditions are actually improving with more careful management. The fiscal deficit in the last five months, or until May 2026, is only 0.7% of GDP.

“Many people say it’s because of the messy fiscal situation. We’ll meet next week, right? There’s a monthly fiscal update, our state budget fiscal report. In May, it improved compared to April,” said Purbaya in the DPR area, Jakarta, quoted on Thursday (4/6/2026).

Purbaya said that with the realization of the state budget deficit reaching only 0.7% of GDP in the last five months, the overall fiscal deficit for the year can be maintained at around 1.7%-1.8% of GDP. The state budget deficit as of April 2026 was equivalent to 0.64% of GDP or IDR 164.4 trillion.

“If I give you a hint, the deficit is only 0.7% in five months. If we calculate it the way economists calculate it, multiply the number of months, I calculate it, follow along, 12 divided by 5 multiplied by 0.7, approximately, if I’m not mistaken, it’s 1.7-1.8 percent of GDP,” he emphasized.

With this record, Purbaya affirmed that the government’s state budget is still very safe because it is still far below this year’s target of 2.68% of GDP or equivalent to IDR 689.1 trillion.

“So, in that regard, our budget is very safe. But people won’t use that now, will they? They will definitely look at the worst. But that’s okay,” said Purbaya.

In addition to the overall state budget deficit, which is still under control, Purbaya also emphasized that the government’s primary balance still recorded a surplus, with a surplus of IDR 28 trillion in April 2026.

“In May, the surplus is also positive again. It’s higher than in April, and our tax revenue is better than last year. It grew by 22 percent,” said Purbaya.

“So, the reforms in taxation have produced a very significant increase in tax revenue, so our budget is very safe,” he emphasized.

As is known, the pressure on the Rupiah exchange rate has deepened on Thursday’s trading (4/6/2026). The Garuda currency has now officially broken the psychological level of IDR 18,000/US$.

Referring to Refinitiv data, at 09.11 WIB, the Rupiah weakened to the level of IDR 18,015/US$ or depreciated 0.42%. This position is also the latest all-time low for the Rupiah against the US dollar.

The weakening is even more pronounced compared to the opening position of trading this morning. The Rupiah opened weaker by 0.11% to the level of IDR 17,960/US$.

Breaking the IDR 18,000/US$ level is a new pressure for the Rupiah, after the previous trading day, Wednesday (3/6/2026), the Garuda currency also closed weaker by 0.62% to the level of IDR 17,940/US$.