Rupiah Falls to Lowest Level, Market Soroti Deficit and Energy Subsidies

Illustration. (Photo: Dok. Antara)

JAKARTA - The rupiah exchange rate against the United States dollar (USD) again touched an all-time low in trading on Tuesday, May 19, 2026, amid the strengthening of the US dollar and increased market concerns about global and domestic risks.

Based on Bloomberg data, the rupiah in the spot market weakened 0.22 percent daily to the level of Rp17,706 per US dollar.

Meanwhile, the Jakarta Interbank Spot Dollar Rate (JISDOR) of the Bank Indonesia (BI) closed down 0.29 percent to Rp17,719 per US dollar.

President Commissioner of HFX International Futures, Sutopo Widodo, assessed that the aggressive spike in the US dollar to the rupiah, which broke through the psychological level of Rp17,700, reflected an imbalance between supply and demand.

According to him, the weakening of the rupiah was triggered by a combination of domestic and global pressures where on the domestic side, the market is looking at the potential for widening the current account deficit and increasing the burden of energy subsidies.

Meanwhile, he added, globally, the strengthening of the US dollar was driven by high yields on US government bonds (US Treasury).

"This strong resistance penetration is triggered by the accumulation of double pressure, where domestic concerns about widening current account deficits and the swelling of energy subsidies are combined with the strength of the global dollar supported by high US Treasury yields," he explained to VOI, Tuesday, May 19.

He added that the market conditions, which are currently in a high-beta phase, also trigger short-term panic and make price movements more dominated by buyer power (buyers' market).

"The market conditions in this high-beta phase trigger short-term panic, while placing the momentum of price movements entirely under the control of buyers (buyers' market)," he explained.