US Higher Yields and Trade Deficit Concerns Impact on Indonesian Rupiah
The Indonesian rupiah exchange rate continued to depreciate further on Wednesday (04/06). According to the Bloomberg Dollar Index, the currency of Indonesia had weakened 0.38 percent to IDR 11,855 per US dollar by 15:00pm local Jakarta time. The depreciation occurred due to US dollar demand from local importers for payments and renewed concern about the country's trade balance. Today's performance of the rupiah is in line with the performance of other Asian currencies as investors return to the US dollar on higher US yields.
Concern about Indonesia's trade balance increased after Statistics Indonesia released data on Monday (02/06) that showed a USD $1.96 billion trade deficit in April 2014. These concerns are a trigger for capital outflows.
After the current account deficit of Indonesia hit a record high at USD $9.9 billion (or 4.4 percent of gross domestic product) in the second quarter of 2013, the balance improved due to government fiscal programs as well as the impact of the sharply depreciated rupiah (making Indonesian exports more competitive on the international market). In the first quarter of 2014, the country recorded a current account deficit of USD $4.19 billion, equivalent to 2.06 percent of GDP, despite the implementation of the unprocessed minerals export ban in January 2014.
Bank Indonesia's benchmark rupiah rate (Jakarta Interbank Spot Dollar Rate, abbreviated JISDOR) depreciated 0.03 percent to IDR 11,810 against the US dollar on Wednesday (04/06).
Indonesian Rupiah versus US Dollar (JISDOR):
| Source: Bank Indonesia