Purbaya Says Panda Bond Issuance Will Make Rupiah 'Strong'

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - The Indonesian government has officially issued bonds denominated in Chinese yuan, known as Panda Bonds, on Thursday, 23 July 2026. The government is targeting to raise US$1 billion from the Panda bonds.

Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa revealed that investor interest in the Panda Bond issuance has been quite good. However, he was not yet able to provide the final amount of offers received.

“The value is good, but I don’t yet know the final outcome, because it’s tomorrow, Friday if I’m not mistaken (the book closing), so I’ll check again later,” said Purbaya, when met by reporters at the State Palace after a Limited Meeting on Thursday (23/7/2026).

Purbaya expressed confidence that the Panda Bond issuance forms part of the diversification of government fiscal financing, whilst also reducing dependence on the United States (US) dollar. In line with this, Purbaya believes the Panda Bond issuance will encourage the strengthening of the rupiah against the US dollar.

“So this strategy was deliberately developed to maximise the available instruments in order to safeguard the rupiah’s exchange rate,” he said.

According to Purbaya, Bank Indonesia (BI) is doing something similar through Local Currency Transactions (LCT), including the use of the rupiah and yuan for trade between Indonesia and China.