Rupiah Weakens Even Faster, Breaches Rp17,500 in Under a Month
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - The rupiah exchange rate has once again faced heavy pressure against the US dollar. The Garuda currency even breached a new psychological level of Rp17,500/US$ during trading on Tuesday (12/5/2026). According to Refinitiv data, the rupiah weakened sharply by 0.60% to Rp17,510/US$ at 12:35 WIB. This position also marks the rupiah’s weakest level ever on an intraday basis. The breach of the Rp17,500/US$ level serves as a new signal that pressure on the rupiah is moving even faster. Indeed, the weakening from Rp17,000/US$ to Rp17,500/US$ only took 26 trading days. The rupiah first closed breaching the Rp17,000/US$ level on 6 April 2026, at Rp17,030/US.Afterthat, injustaroundonemonthoftrading, therupiahdepreciatedfurtherbymorethanRp500perUSdollartobreachRp17, 500/US this afternoon. Looking at the speed of the rupiah breaching psychological levels per Rp500, the weakening from Rp17,000/US$ to Rp17,500/US$ this time is the fastest since the Covid-19 pandemic period. This means the last time the rupiah weakened at a faster rate for a Rp500 rise per US dollar occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic, specifically when global market panic peaked in March 2020. The rupiah took only 3 trading days to weaken from Rp14,500/US$ to Rp15,000/US.TherupiahclosedatRp14, 510/US on 12 March 2020, then weakened to Rp15,160/US$ on 17 March 2020. The pressure even continued faster. The rupiah only took 2 trading days to weaken from Rp15,000/US$ to Rp15,500/US.Afterthat, therupiahalsotookonly2tradingdaystomovefromRp15, 500/US to Rp16,000/US.However, post − pandemic, therupiah′sweakeningfromitspsychologicallevelsbyRp500tendedtotakelonger.TheweakeningfromRp16, 000/US to Rp16,500/US$ took 53 trading days. Meanwhile, the weakening from Rp16,500/US$ to Rp17,000/US$ took even longer, namely 142 trading days. Now, the weakening from Rp17,000/US$ to Rp17,500/US$ only took 26 trading days. This condition shows that pressure on the rupiah in recent weeks has once again accelerated.