BCA Boss Denies Rupiah Issues Due To Middle East Conflict

JAKARTA - President Director of PT Bank Central Asia Tbk (BBCA) Jahja Setiaatmadja opened his voice regarding the cause of the weakening of the Rupiah to touch Rp. 16,000 per US dollar.

According to him, there are several factors that have led to the weakening of the Rupiah and dismissed the notion that the conflict between Israel and Iran was the cause.

"The increase in the rupiah was not due to the coincidence of an Israeli attack on Iran and then being replied again. Not immediately because of that," he said in an online press conference, Monday, April 22.

Jahja said, one of the reasons was because the need for dollars in the first quarter had indeed increased, especially since there were preparations for Eid al-Fitr and holidays. Thus, causing people to buy large amounts of US dollars.

"Indeed, the demand for the dollar in the first quarter is large. We also cannot deny that our friends are flying abroad, they are shopping, they buy tickets, buy hotels, we need US Dollars," explained Jahja.

Then another factor is the provision of dividend payouts which are mostly carried out in the first quarter so that there is a lot of flow of funds abroad. In addition, there are indications of a reduction in investment by foreigners in State Securities (SBN) and foreign securities instruments.

"There is dumping from foreigners. This all requires dollars. Because it doesn't want to exceed Rp. 16,000," continued Jahja.

For this reason, he emphasized that the weakening of the rupiah did not occur in the accretion of conflict in the Middle East.

"If the escalation in the Middle East was short, the price of gold suddenly skyrocketed but as soon as a few days later I saw that there had been another correction," concluded Jahja.