Mandiri: No need to panic over rupiah decline

JAKARTA. State-run PT Bank Mandiri (Persero) has said market players did not need to panic at the decline in the rupiah, which passed the Rp 10,000 per US dollar rate in the last few days, because dollars were still available in huge amounts in the foreign currency markets.

Mandiri president director Budi Gunadi Sadikin said the market players’ worries about the scarcity of US dollars in the foreign currency markets occurred after several business players stockpiled the US currency. They were waiting for the rupiah to continue to weaken so that they could profit from the situation.

“We have experienced this situation [above the Rp 10,000 rate] about four or five times. If the situation returns back to normal, it could decline to Rp 9,000 or Rp 8,000 per dollar. So, this is nothing very special,” said Budi on Wednesday evening.

He acknowledged that during the past several years, the rupiah had never exceeded Rp 10,000 per dollar. However, he said, it also should be kept in mind that when a crisis occurred in 2008 after the government increased subsidized-fuel prices, the rupiah declined to Rp 12,000 per dollar.

Budi said it was hoped that the market players who held US dollars would soon release them into the markets.

According to the Jakarta Interbank Spot Dollar Rate (JISDOR) at the BI’s website, since the beginning of July, the rupiah has continued to weaken.

On July 1, the rupiah traded at Rp 9,934 to the dollar until July 15 when the Indonesian currency traded at more than Rp 10,000 per dollar. On Thursday, the rupiah traded at Rp 10,059 to the greenback. (ebf)