Market Anticipates BI's Dovish Attitude, Rupiah Pressured by US Dollar Strengthening

JAKARTA - The rupiah exchange rate on Thursday, February 19, 2026 is expected to weaken against the US dollar.

To note, quoting Bloomberg, on Wednesday, February 18, the spot rupiah exchange rate closed down 0.28 percent to Rp16,884 per US dollar.

Meanwhile, the Jakarta Interbank Spot Dollar Rate (Jisdor) exchange rate of the Bank Indonesia (BI) closed down 0.24 percent to the price level of IDR16,884 per US dollar.

Doo Financial Futures analyst Lukman Leong said that the rupiah exchange rate is expected to weaken against the US dollar.

He added that this weakening was triggered by a significant strengthening of the US dollar after a number of US economic data, such as the housing sector, manufacturing, and durable goods sales, were recorded as stronger than expected.

"The rupiah is expected to weaken against the US dollar which strengthened quite significantly after economic data such as housing, manufacturing and durable goods sales were stronger than expected," he told VOI, Thursday, February 19.

In addition, Lukman conveyed the hawkish stance of the Fed which was reflected in the minutes of the FOMC meeting which also contributed to the further strengthening of the US dollar.

Meanwhile, from within the country, he said market participants actually anticipated the possibility of the Bank Indonesia's (BI) dovish stance in the Governor's Board Meeting which will be held this afternoon.

"From the domestic side, investors are actually anticipating the possibility of a dovish attitude from BI in the governor's meeting this afternoon," he said.

Lukman estimates that the movement of the rupiah on Thursday, February 19, 2026 will be in the range of Rp16,850-Rp17,000 per US dollar.