Overview
- The rupiah, which closed at a record 17,445 per dollar on Tuesday, set off fresh pledges to steady the currency and a new round of controls on dollar buying.
- Bank Indonesia cut the threshold for dollar purchases that require documentation to $25,000 per party per month to curb speculative demand and track flows more closely.
- Governor Perry Warjiyo said the bank has enough foreign-exchange reserves and will intervene around the clock in both domestic and offshore markets to support the rupiah.
- Reserves fell by $8.3 billion in the first quarter to $148.2 billion, the lowest since July 2024, showing the cost of defending the currency as outflows picked up.
- Officials are using several tools at once — offshore and domestic non-deliverable forwards, spot FX trades, and bond market operations — while pressure builds from the Iran war, high U.S. rates, investor exits, and recent corporate debt repayments in foreign currency.