JAKARTA (Yosefardi) – The rupiah weakened further by 0.2% to Rp14,305 against the US dollar in early trade this morning, Bloomberg.com quoted. Year to date, the local currency has depreciated by over 14%.
The announcement of the government’s first economic policy package on Wednesday could not offset the current negative external influences.
“(You) must understand, the external pressures are strong,” President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo told reported Thursday. The said pressures from external side are mainly the Fed rate hike plan and concern on the global economic slowdown following China’s economic downturn.
Credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) also noted that Indonesian companies will have difficulty to pay their (growing) overseas debt in case the rupiah will touch Rp15,000 per US dollar.
Particularly as most Indonesian companies have to face declining profit and revenue growth due to curbed domestic demand amid Indonesia’s economic slowdown.