BI Tells SOEs to Refrain from Buying too Many US Dollars to Help Stabilize Rupiah

Bank Indonesia has asked state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to be conservative in their purchase of United States dollars to help stabilize the rupiah exchange rate against the US currency.

BI Governor Agus Martowardojo estimated that the pressure on the Indonesian currency would persist up to the middle of May in line with the estimation that the Federal Reserve would increase the Fed Fund Rate.

If SOEs purchase US dollars now as part of preparations to pay their debts, which would mature in September, they move would put pressure on the rupiah.

“If they need to pay the debts in September, November or December, they do not need to buy the foreign currency now,” Agus said as reported by kontan.co.id in Jakarta over the weekend.

Data shows Indonesian corporations had US$46.06 billion in mature foreign debts up to December.

Agus said for SOEs, which needed to pay foreign debts in this second quarter, he advised that the companies carry out hedging.

He said the central bank would also increase swap transaction intensity from once a week to two or three times a week to maintain foreign exchange liquidity in the market.

Meanwhile, Eric Sugandi, a project consultant for the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Institute, said the pressure on the rupiah had also been caused by the outflow of foreign capital from the stock exchange, recorded at Rp 33.31 trillion (US$2.40 billion) since January.

Meanwhile, in the government bond market, foreign capital had also decreased to Rp 848.48 trillion as of April 26, from Rp 861 trillion in early April.

Courtesy : Thejakartapost
Photo : JowoNews.com

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