Rupiah Weakens as US Dollar Hits Rp17,260: Anindya Bakrie's Reaction

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - Chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) Anindya Novyan Bakrie assessed that the current movement of the rupiah exchange rate against the US dollar needs to be handled carefully by the business world, amid global liquidity pressures.

“Indeed, we must respond with a cool head and also strategically regarding the exchange rate,” Anindya said during a press conference at his office in Jakarta on Friday (24/4/2026).

He acknowledged that the rupiah is in a weakening trend but emphasised that global factors are the main drivers of this depreciation.

“The exchange rate is weakening like that. But if we look at it, the reasons for this weakening are many; one, of course, foreign exchange is related to the dollar in particular,” he explained.

According to him, current market dynamics show a shift in investor behaviour towards safe-haven assets.

“Now, if we look, gold, which has long been a safe haven, has fallen. This is because the opposite is happening. There’s selling in safe havens,” he said.

Anindya assessed that this condition reflects high global liquidity needs, so investors tend to withdraw funds from various assets, including emerging markets.

“Because the market is looking for anything that can provide liquidity. So as long as liquidity is seen in a currency, including the rupiah, it becomes a possibility for withdrawal,” he stated.

He also mentioned the pressure visible in the domestic capital market. “And this is clearly seen in the capital market this week; so far, it’s red every day. That means many are taking liquidity. It doesn’t mean good or bad fundamentals, but it means liquidity is being pulled,” he continued.

In line with that view, Executive Director and Director of Insight at the Kadin Indonesia Institute, Fakhrul Fulvian, assessed that the rupiah’s weakening does bring real pressure to the business world, especially in terms of financing.

“Certainly, if we look at the current condition, we see that this rupiah weakening certainly brings pressure to the business world in Indonesia, and actually we are aware that this pressure often emerges not only from domestic risks. But we see that this condition comes from abroad due to pressure on oil prices and so on,” Fakhrul said on the same occasion.

He emphasised that external pressures such as surges in energy prices make the rupiah’s weakening difficult to fully control by domestic factors.

“In our opinion, we are also aware that the rupiah’s weakening cannot be fully controlled by us. Because of that, we hope from the government in this period of pressure currently affecting the business world. The government must provide us with a buffer while this condition persists,” he said.

Nevertheless, Fakhrul views the rupiah’s weakening as temporary, in line with the unstable global conditions.

“But on one side, my professional judgement is that we see this rupiah weakening as actually tending to be temporary, and indeed the current condition is that the whole world is scrambling to secure oil supplies,” he explained.

He added that the dollar’s dominance in global energy transactions also drives the surge in dollar demand.

“And oil in the Middle East, most economic consensus is bought through dollars. That’s what’s happening with petrodollars. Because of that, when there’s pressure on oil prices and everyone is forced to buy oil, the current dollar demand is unusually high. This is not usually like this,” he elaborated.

According to him, this pressure will ease if global geopolitical conditions start to stabilise.

“Until the condition normalises, we hope there will be a new consensus in the Middle East. When that happens, the pressure will be over. But the pressure inevitably has entered our business world,” he said.

As a result, business players are starting to feel the rise in operational costs, particularly from the energy and raw materials sectors.

“It’s already felt, as Mr Anin said, I feel it. That fuel prices, energy prices everywhere are increasing now, plastic prices are increasing. That’s what we see; hopefully we can tackle it,” Fakhrul said.

He also reminded the importance of maintaining employment stability amid this pressure.

“And indeed, we must also handle how this wave of layoffs does not continue,” he added.

For information, the rupiah exchange rate once touched the all-time weakest level before finally strengthening slightly. According to Refinitiv data, the rupiah opened at Rp17,260/US$ on Friday (24/4/2026), strengthening 0.12%. The previous day, the rupiah closed at Rp17,280/US$, weakening 0.64% and becoming the historical lowest level.