Bank Indonesia intervenes as rupiah reaches Rp18,000 per US dollar
The central bank said it was using offshore and domestic transactions and government bond purchases to support exchange-rate stability.
Bank Indonesia said it was continuing market intervention on 16 October 2026 as the rupiah weakened to Rp18,000 per US dollar. Refinitiv data showed the currency was down 0.45 per cent at 09:02 Western Indonesia Time.
The rupiah had opened at Rp17,980 per US dollar, a decline of 0.33 per cent, before extending its losses two minutes later.
Erwin Gunawan Hutapea, head of Bank Indonesia’s Monetary and Securities Asset Management Department, said the bank was intervening to keep the exchange rate aligned with fundamentals and ensure orderly market functioning. Its operations included offshore non-deliverable forwards, domestic spot and domestic non-deliverable forward transactions, and purchases of government securities on the secondary market.
Erwin attributed the pressure to greater global risk aversion, which he said was strengthening the US dollar and weighing on Indonesia’s financial markets. He expected outflows from domestic portfolio assets to continue under those conditions.
He said the rupiah’s movements remained broadly consistent with regional currencies, with a quarter-to-date decline of 0.28 per cent. Indonesia’s external position remained supported by foreign exchange reserves of US$146.3 billion at the end of September 2026, he added.
Bank Indonesia was also maintaining adequate liquidity, managing the structure of money-market interest rates and coordinating closely with companies, market participants and other relevant parties, Erwin said.
