Rupiah suffers deepest drop in 13 months

JAKARTA. The rupiah suffered its deepest plunge in the last 13 months in onshore trading.

Bloomberg data shows that the rupiah slid 1.6 percent and was being traded at Rp 10,225 per US dollar as of 10:26 a.m. on Tuesday. This is the weakest level since Rp 10,258 per US dollar was recorded on July 14, 2009.

One-month non-deliverable forwards were 0.9 percent weaker than the spot rate at 10,320. That gap exceeded 5 percent last month for the first time since 2011.

The central bank has allowed the rupiah to gradually depreciate, especially this month, deputy governor Perry Warjiyo said on July 12.

The nation recorded trade deficits in seven out of the past eight months, while its current account has been in shortfall for the six quarters through March, official data shows.

The rupiah has weakened 2.9 percent in July and 5.8 percent this year, the worst performance among Asia’s 11 most-traded currencies after Japan’s yen and India’s rupee.

The 10,000 per dollar level is in line with economic fundamentals, Bank Indonesia Governor Agus Martowardojo said last week. (The Jakarta Post)