Rupiah Weakens to 17,000 per US Dollar: Will It Strengthen Again?
The exchange rate of the rupiah stood at Rp17,140 per US dollar on 21 April 2026, weakening by 0.87% compared to the end of March 2026. Bank Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo stated that the central bank would implement various monetary policies to strengthen the rupiah’s fundamentals. These policies include interventions in the offshore NDF market and DNDF in the domestic market. “From the monetary policy side to maintain the stability of the rupiah exchange rate and keep inflation within the 2.5% plus or minus 1% target, that is by increasing the intensity of interventions to maintain rupiah exchange rate stability, both offshore NDF interventions and domestic spot or DNDF,” explained Perry, quoted from Kompas.com on Thursday (23/4/2026). Additionally, there are policies for providing macroprudential liquidity incentives and payment systems to encourage economic growth. Ultimately, BI hopes that economic growth will remain at 4.9-5.7% in 2026, with inflation controlled at 1.5-3.5%. The current account deficit will be kept at 1.3-0.5% of gross domestic product (GDP), and credit growth is targeted at 8-12%. “Fundamentally, our rupiah exchange rate will be stable and tend to strengthen, supported by economic fundamentals, high economic growth, low inflation, attractive yields, and BI’s commitment to maintaining rupiah exchange rate stability,” explained Perry. Turmoil in the Middle East is the reason why the rupiah continues to weaken. However, on the domestic side, government fiscal policies are making the market anxious. The world’s weakest currency is held by the Iranian rial, followed by the Lebanese pound, Vietnamese dong, and Laotian kip. However, the rupiah’s placement in this list is not debatable because Forbes Advisor uses the nominal value of foreign currencies compared to the US dollar, not the overall economic strength of a country. It can be said that the rupiah is weakening against the US dollar, but Indonesia’s economy is not as bad as presumed.