Pressed By The COVID-19 Pandemic, BI Is Optimistic That The Rupiah Will Return To Another Rp15,000

JAKARTA - Bank Indonesia predicts that the rupiah exchange rate will strengthen despite the pressure from the corona virus pandemic or COVID-19. Governor of Bank Indonesia Perry Warjiyo admitted that he is optimistic that the rupiah exchange rate will move to Rp. 15 thousand per US dollar by the end of the year.

"We believe that the exchange rate will not only be stable but will also strengthen by Rp15 thousand by the end of this year," he said, in a video conference with journalists at the BI office, Jakarta, Thursday, April 2.

Perry explained that his party continues to strive to stabilize the rupiah exchange rate, as seen from the stable position of the rupiah in the last week. These efforts were successful after some time ago, the rupiah depreciated considerably due to the global market panic.

"The current rupiah exchange rate is at an adequate level and that BI continues to stabilize the exchange rate to keep it stable," he explained.

On the other hand, Perry assessed that currently global investors have tended to be optimistic about Indonesia's condition. Moreover, various policies, both monetary and fiscal, have been intensively launched by the government to improve economic conditions amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Perry also emphasized that his party and the Ministry of Finance will continue to strive so that the government's worst-case scenario related to the rupiah does not occur. According to him, the rupiah exchange rate which was said to weaken to a level of Rp. 17,500 to Rp. 20,000 per US dollar was not the projection of BI or the Ministry of Finance.

"We need to emphasize that the macroeconomic figures presented are what if the scenario is not a projection," he said.

According to Perry, the background for making the what if scenario, including exchange rates and economic growth, was due to the condition of the spread of COVID-19 in society. This is because there has been movement of people from DKI Jakarta to various regions, for example West Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta, East Java, and even outside Java.

Perry said, what if scenario could occur if the spread of the COVID-19 virus became more widespread. Not only in DKI Jakarta as the epicenter of the outbreak, but in other provinces. What if scenario, he continued, could happen if KSSK did not take joint steps.

"The president and a number of governors in several provinces have made various efforts. The spread continues to spread and has a worse impact, a high mortality rate. Therefore, we coordinate and take anticipatory steps so that bad conditions do not occur," he explained.