Rupiah Breaches 17,320/US$, Airlangga Speaks Out
The government has commented on the rupiah’s continued weakening. According to Refinitiv data, the Garuda currency opened in the red, depreciating by 0.09% to Rp17,320/US$ in early trading on Monday (4/5/2026). This level marks the weakest closing position for the rupiah in history.
Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Airlangga Hartarto, explained that this situation is not unique to Indonesia but is also experienced by various other countries.
“Yes, the Government will certainly monitor it, but this exchange rate weakening is not monopolised by Indonesia; many countries are facing the same issue,” Airlangga said when met at the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy office on Monday (4/5/2026).
Airlangga explained that the government will continue to monitor exchange rate developments, including comparing them with currency movements in neighbouring countries or peer countries.
“So we monitor peer countries as well,” he said.
Previously, Bank Indonesia’s Senior Deputy Governor Destry Damayanti revealed the reasons behind the rupiah’s pressure against the US dollar, weakening above Rp17,300/US$.
According to Destry, the pressure on the rupiah today is inseparable from high global uncertainty. Therefore, she emphasised that the rupiah’s exchange rate against the US dollar is not weakening on its own.
“The pressure on the rupiah since this morning is largely due to increasing global uncertainty, so regional currencies are experiencing the same pressure,” Destry told CNBC Indonesia.
Therefore, she assured that Bank Indonesia will continue to increase the intensity of interventions to maintain rupiah exchange rate stability and strengthen the interest rate structure of pro-market instruments to remain attractive for capital inflows into domestic asset instruments, amid the ongoing impact of the Middle East war.
“We will continue to carry out consistent interventions through Non-Deliverable Forward (NDF) transactions in the offshore market, spot transactions and Domestic Non-Deliverable Forward (DNDF) in the domestic market, accompanied by purchases of government bonds in the secondary market,” Destry said.
She emphasised that the rupiah’s weakening is still in line with the region. On a year-to-date basis, the rupiah exchange rate has weakened by minus 3.54%, and foreign exchange reserves remain at US$148.2 billion as of the end of March 2026.