Rupiah Weakness Feared to Drive Up Medicine Prices

The Chairman of the Indonesian Empowered Consumer Forum (FKBI), Tulus Abadi, stated that the weakening of the rupiah exchange rate will create a domino effect on medicine prices. He noted that soaring prices for medicines and vitamins are inevitable, given that 85-90% of pharmaceutical raw materials in Indonesia are imported.

Tulus explained that rising medicine prices will further decrease the medicine consumption ratio in Indonesia, which is already considered low. “The collapse of the rupiah exchange rate will cause the Indonesian public’s medicine consumption ratio to decline further, as medicines become increasingly expensive,” he said in a written statement on Saturday, 6 June 2026.

Another impact of soaring medicine prices is the swelling of the BPJS Kesehatan budget. Tulus explained that healthcare facilities will submit larger claims, thereby putting further pressure on the financial condition of BPJS Kesehatan.

Tulus also assessed that the weakening exchange rate could cause mid-to-low tier pharmaceutical industries to face the threat of bankruptcy. If these companies are unable to purchase raw materials, production activities will cease. “The threat of bankruptcy and layoffs becomes unavoidable,” said Tulus.

Currently, the rupiah exchange rate has breached the level of 18,000 per US dollar. Responding to this development, the Ministry of Finance and Bank Indonesia have stated they will strengthen the coordination of fiscal and monetary policies to stabilise the exchange rate.

The government remains optimistic that the rupiah can strengthen. “Certainly, if policies are unified in such a way, with full synergy, it should restore market confidence in the rupiah, so that the rupiah will increase significantly and will not weaken further to levels higher than the current one,” said Minister of Finance Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa at the DPR Building on Saturday, 6 June 2026.