Rupiah Drops To Rp16,200 Per US Dollar, Zulhas: Our Foreign Exchange Reserves Are Strong, No Need To Worry

Trade Minister Zulhas (Photo: Mery Handayani/VOI)

JAKARTA - Minister of Trade (Mendag) Zulkifli Hasan asked the public not to worry about the impact of rupiah value on the Amerika United States (US) dollar. He said Indonesia has strong foreign exchange reserves.

For your information, based on Bloomberg data, the rupiah exchange rate against the US dollar is at the level of Rp. 16,187 today.

"Our foreign exchange reserves are strong, so there's no need to worry too much," he said at the Office of the Ministry of Trade (Kemendag), Jakarta, Thursday, April 25.

The man who is familiarly called Zulhas also said that the Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) and Bank Indonesia (BI) have a policy to be able to overcome it in order to have a severe impact on imports.

"We entrust those who have the authority to overcome the change in the exchange rate. But the Minister of Finance, the Governor of BI, has said yes, we are never worried," he said.

Zulhas said that when the rupiah exchange rate weakened against the US dollar, there were two different reactions from exporters and importers. He said exporters would be happy with the condition.

Meanwhile, continued Zulhas, importers are the opposite. He said, when the rupiah weakens, importers will be happy, because the price of goods will be much higher.

"Indeed, there are two sides if the exporters are happy, it's useless, the importers scream like that. So regulating that middle, it will be carried out by those who have the permit authority," he explained.