It’s finally happened. The rupiah has passed the Rp 14,000 per US Dollar mark for the first time since the national monetary crisis in 1998.
The rupiah has been flirting with the 14,000 mark for some weeks now. According to Bloomberg, the rupiah opened at 13,977 this morning and immediately plunged to 14,053. At the time of writing (Monday noon), the rupiah sits at 14.030 per US Dollar.
“The rupiah looks like it will be stable at just under Rp 14,000 per US Dollar for some time, but it’s still under pressure,” speculates PT Samuel Sekuritas Indonesia, an investment securities corporation, as quoted by Kompas today.
The rupiah’s current weakening against the US Dollar has mainly been attributed to the devaluation of China’s Yuan. The rupiah is just one of many Asian currencies suffering from Yuan’s devaluation.
Now that the rupiah has passed the 14,000 mark, we wonder if it will go beyond 15,000. After all, the rupiah was worth around 11,600 just a year ago.
Wouldn’t it be great to be paid in US Dollars now? But then again, a weak rupiah will no doubt lead to the increase in the price of imported goods, so everybody kind of suffers in the end.
